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Full text of "Original treatises, dating from the XIIth to the XVIIIth centuries, [o]n the arts of painting : in oil, miniature, mosaic, and on glass ; of gilding, dyeing, and the preparation of colours and artificial gems ; preceded by a general introduction ; with translations, prefaces, and notes. By Mrs. Merrifield ... In two volumes"

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ORIGINAL  TREATISES, 


DATING  PROM  THE  XIItb  TO  XYIIItr  CENTURIES 


KTHB 


ARTS    OF    PAINTING, 

IN 

OIL,    MINIinrXJRE,  MOSAIC,  AND  ON   GLASS ;    OP  GILDING,  DYEING,  AND  THE 
PREPARATION   OF  COLOURS  AND  ARTIFICIAL  GEMS; 

PRBCSDKD  BY  A  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION ;  WITH  TRANSLATIONS*  FREFACE8.  AND  NOTES. 


BY 

MRS.   MERRIFIELD, 

80K0KAKT  XBVBBB  OV  THX  ACADBXT  Or  PIVB  ABT8  AT  BOLOOVA,  TRAK8LATOB  OP 
TBB  TBBATI8B  OH  PAIKTIVG  OP  CBKMIKO  CBNKIKI,  AND  AUTBOBBflS  OP 

'*HB  ABT  OP  PBESCO-FAINTINO.' 


IN   TWO   VOLUMES.  — VOL.  L 


LONDON: 
JOHN  MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET. 

1849. 


London  :  Printed  by  Wilmah  Ctowxt  Itc  Son*  SUmfoid  Street. 


TO 


THE  BIGHT  HONOURABLE 


SIR  ROBERT  PEEL,   BART., 


THESE  TREATISES* 


COLLECTED  UNDEB  HIS  AUSPICES, 
ABE  GBATEFULLY  AND  BESPECTFULLT  DEDICATED  BY 


THE  EDITOR. 


PREFACE. 


In  the  autumn  of  1845  I  was  honoured  by  Her 
Majesty's  Government  with  a  commission  to  proceed 
to  the  North  of  Italy,  for  the  purpose  of  collecting 
MSS.  relative  to  the  technical  part  of  painting,  with 
a  view  principally  of  ascertaining  the  processes  and 
methods  of  oil-painting  adopted  by  the  Italians.  I  was 
also  instructed  generally  to  endeavour  to  procure  tradi- 
tional and  practical  information  on  this  subject  from 
other  sources. 

I  succeeded  in  obtaining  copies  of  the  MSS.  con- 
tained in  the  following  volumes.  On  my  return  to  this 
country.  Sir  Bobert  Peel  was  pleased  to  entrust  me 
with  the  publication  of  the  MSS.,  and  to  intimate  that 
a  part  of  the  expenses  of  publication  would  be  defrayed 
by  Government 

I  need  not  say  how  highly  I  was  gratified  by  this 
distinction,  for  an  occupation  more  congenial  to  my 
inclinations  could  scarcely  have  been  su^ested ;  and  I 
accepted  the  offer  without,  perhaps,  properly  consider- 
ing the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking,  and  my  own 
incapacity. 

The  following  work,  in  which  I  have  endeavoured  to 
supply  by  diligence  what  I  have  wanted  in  ability,  is 
the  result  of  my  labours. 


VI  PREFACE. 

In  preparing  the  MSS.  for  publication,  I  have 
adopted,  as  nearly  as  possible,  a  chronological  arrange- 
ment, considering  it  was  best  adapted  to  show  the 
progress  of  the  art,  and  the  technical  methods  in 
use  from  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  to  the  eighteenth 
centuries. 

The  early  MSS.,  although  they  do  not  treat  of  oil- 
painting,  properly  so  called,  are  useiul  in  showing  the 
state  of  the  art  of  painting  at  the  period  when  they 
were  written,  and  the  importance  attached  to  the  pre- 
paration and  purification  of  colours.  In  an  antiquarian 
and  historical  point  of  view  these  MSS.  are  also  highly 
interesting.  Some  of  die  most  valuable  facts  to  be  col- 
lected firom  them  are  mentioned  in  the  preliminary 
observations  prefixed  to  each  treatise.  With  a  view  of 
rendering  the  MSS,  more  generally  useiul,  I  have  pre- 
fixed to  them  a  brief  sketch  of  the  history  and  technical 
processes  of  the  difierent  kinds  of  painting  and  other 
arts,  which  are  alluded  to  in  the  MSS* 

Among  the  various  recipes,  many  of  which  may  be 
traced  to  a  very  early  period,  it  will  not  occasion  sur- 
prise that  some  should  be  found  which  partake  of  the 
barbarism  of  the  times  when  they  were  written.  Ab^ 
surd,  and  perhaps  useless^  as  a  few  of  these  may  be 
considered,  except  as  forming  part  of  the  History 
of  Art,  it  has  been  thought  advisable  to  publish  the 
whole  of  the  MS&  in  order  to  satisfy  the  reader  that 
nothing  important  has  been  omitted.  The  ortho^ 
graphy  of  the  originals  has  been  always  scrupulously 
followed;  and  no  emendations  have  been  permitted, 
except  in  one  or  two  instances  which  are  mentioned  in 
the  notes. 


PRRFACB.  TO 

Much  information  relative  to  oil-painting  was  com- 
municated to  me  orally  by  several  eminent  Italian 
artists  during  my  tour.  This  information,  which  I 
endeavoured  to  preserve  by  committing  the  substance 
of  their  communications  immediately  to  writing,  is  now 
published  in  the  original  form,  with  such  explanatory 
notes  as  appeared  necessary  to  make  them  intelligible. 

It  also  occurred  to  me  that  the  statements  made  in 
these  memoranda  would  require  other  confirmation 
than  the  oral  testimony  of  living  persons,  who,  although 
possessing  much  valuable  knowledge  acquired  by  their 
practice  and  researches,  and  much  information  derived 
from  tradition  and  the  study  of  works  on  art,  are  yet 
unknown  to  the  reader,  and  their  statements  are  fre- 
quently contradictory.  It,  therefore,  appeared  to  me, 
that  it  would  be  important  to  examine  and  compare  the 
statements  of  the  Italian  professors  with  the  treatises 
contained  in  these  volumes,  and  with  many  of  the  best 
English  and  foreign  works  connected  with  the  fine  arts, 
in  order  to  ascertain  how  far  the  statements  and  prac* 
tice  of  these  artists  were  supported  in  their  view  of  the 
practice  of  the  old  masters;  inasmuch  as,  in  these 
points  where  they  did  coincide,  it  might  fairly  be  con- 
cluded that  the  practice  of  the  old  masters  was  correctly 
stated  by  these  modem  professors.  I  have  accordingly 
made  this  examination  by  comparing  these  statements 
with  the  most  esteemed  works  on  this  subject  The 
more  important  points  connected  with  this  examination 
I  oommtmicated  to  Sir  Bobert  Peel  in  October,  1846. 
"They  are  now  more  fully  stated,  with  additions  and 
corrections,  in  the  following  work.  I  have  referred  to 
the  authorities  from  which  I  have  framed  my  opinions, 


•  •• 


VIU  PREFACE. 

and  from  which  the  reader  will  be  enabled  to  judge  of 
the  correctness  of  my  conclusions. 

In  arranging  this  brief  account  of  the  methods  and 
materials  adopted  in  oil-painting  in  Italy,  it  is  to  be 
observed,  that  it  has  not  been  my  intention  to  give  a 
complete  history  of  all  the  processes  employed  in  this 
art,  and  of  the  practice  of  the  different  schools,  but 
merely  to  give  such  a  general  outline  as  will  render  the 
oral  and  documentary  evidence  and  information  con- 
tained in  these  volumes  and  now  scattered  through  so 
many  pages,  available  to  the  reader.  The  only  varia- 
tions from  the  original  memoranda  which  I  have  per- 
mitted myself  to  make  consist  in  some  necessary  verbal 
corrections,  and  in  some  omissions  of  statements  and 
opinions,  which,  on  inquiry,  could  not  be  satisfactorily 
substantiated.  I  have  also  considered  it  unnecessary 
to  mention  the  names  of  the  professors  who  favoured 
me  with  the  communications,  although  I  was  careful 
to  ascertain  that  they  were  considered  by  competent 
judges  eminent  in  their  profession. 

Although  no  exertion  has  been  wanting  on  my  part 
to  make  the  work  as  useful  as  possible  by  a  dispas- 
sionate and  unprejudiced  inquiry  into  the  former  pro- 
cesses of  oil-painting,  it  may  yet  be  feared  that  many 
errors  have  crept  in,  or  been  overlooked,  and  tiAt 
many  links  in  the  chain  of  evidence  as  well  as  in  the 
technical  processes  are  still  wanting.  As  I  have  been 
particular  in  stating  my  authorities,  the  former  may  be 
corrected  by  reference  to  the  works  indicated,  the 
latter  will  be  supplied  by  Mr.  Eastlake's  promised 
volume  on  the  Technical  Processes  of  the  Italian 
Painters. 


PREFACE.  IX 

I  cannot  dismiss  the  subject  of  oil-painting  without 
acknowledging  the  great  -assistance  I  have  derived 
from  Mr.  Eastlake's  recent  and  very  valuable  work, 
^  Materials  for  a  History  of  Oil-Fainting ;'  and  I  take 
this  opportunity  of  expressing  my  sincere  thanks. to 
him  for  the  important  assistance  and  encouragement  he 
has  so  kindly  and  readily  afforded  me  during  the  pro- 
gress of  the  work. 

To  the  Earl  of  EUesmere  I  beg  also  to  offer  my 
very  grateful  acknowledgments  for  the  loan  of  many 
valuable  books,  without  which  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible for  me  to  have  completed  the  work. 

To  Sir  Thomas  Fhillipps  I  am  also  indebted  for 
a  copy  of  an  interesting  work  of  the  middle  ages,  en- 
titled 'Mappse  Clavicula,*  which  I  have  found  very 
usefiil. 

To  my  highly-esteemed  friend,  Mr.  Seymour,  of 
Dorset  Gardens,  Brighton,  my  acknowledgments  are 
also  especially  due  for  loans  of  books,  and  valuable 
references  to  others,  which  his  extensive  reading  quali- 
fied him  to  give.  To  Mr.  Charles  Carpenter,  of  the 
Brighton  Bench  of  Magistrates,  I  am  indebted  for 
similar  assistance 

I  beg  also  to  thank  Mr.  Robert  Hendrie,  junior, 
whose  recent  edition  of  Theophilus  has  been  of  great 
assistance  to  me;  Mr.  Borrer,  of  Henfield,  Sussex; 
and  Mr.  Albert  Way,  Secretary  of  the  Archaeological 
Institute,  for  their  ready  attention  to  my  applications. 

Mr.  Hermann  Schweitzer,  of  Brighton,  the  eminent 
analytical  chemist,  has  also  afforded  me  much  valuable 
professional  assistance,  which  I  feel  great  pleasure  in 
acknowledging. 


PREFACE. 


By  means  of  the  introductioiis  with  which  I  was 
favoured  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis  and  Sig.  Panizzi,  of  the 
British  Museum ;  by  M.  ChampoUion-Figeac,  of  the 
Bibliotheque  Boyale,  at  Paris ;  and  the  Celt.  Gazzera, 
of  the  Library  of  the  University  at  Turin,  I  obtained 
access  to  the  public  libraries  of  many  of  the  principal 
cities  of  the  North  of  Italy,  and  to  some  private 
libraries:  especially  those  of  the  King  of  Sardinia ;  the 
Marquis  Trivulzio,  and  Conte  Pompeo  Litta,  of  Milan, 
author  of  the  '  History  of  the  Noble  Families  of  Italy ;' 
Conte  Francesco  de'  Lazara,  of  Padua,  the  nephew  and 
heir  of  the  Cav.  Lazara,  whose  valuable  collection  of 
MSS.  and  works  on  art  is  so  frequently  mentioned  by 
Lanzi;  of  Sig.  Giuseppe  Riva,  of  the  Monte  Berici, 
near  Yicenza,  author  of  several  works  of  antiquarian 
interest;  of  the  Canon  Ramelli,  of  Rovigo;  of  Sig.  M. 
A.  Gualandi,  of  Bologna,  editor  of  an  interesting  series 
of  original  documents  and  letters  of  painters ;  of  Pro- 
fessor Longhena  and  Sig.  Yallardi,  of  Milan :  to  all  of 
whom  I  beg  to  express  my  obligations  for  the  facilities 
afforded  me.* 


*  My  acknowledgments  and  thanks  are  also  due  to  many  eminent  ia 
literature,  science,  and  art  on  the  Continent.  I  regret  to  omit  the  names 
of  any  of  them,  and  among  others  named  in  these  volumes,  I  feel  gratified 
itt  expresring  my  obligations  to  M,  le  Comte  Charles  de  I'Escalopier,  and  M. 
Delarocbe,  of  Paris ;  the  Cay.  Promis,  of  the  Private  Library  of  the  King  of 
Sardinia,  and  Conte  Galiteris,  of  Turin ;  Conte  Giberto  Borromeo,  and  the 
Car.  Rossi,  of  the  Brera  Library,  Dr.  Zardetti,  of  the  Cabinet  of  Medals, 
Drs.  Capelli  and  Yallardi ,  of  Milan ;  Conte  Lochia,  President  of  the  Ao- 
(abdemia  Carrara,  Conte  Pietro  Moroni,  Sig.  Salvioni  of  the  Public  Library, 
8.nd  Sig.  Arrigoni,  of  Bergamo ;  Conte  Luigl  Lechi,  of  Brescia ;  Conte 
Orti  Manara,  and  Conte  Jacomo  Moscom  (known  to  the  literary  world  as 
the  translator  of  some  of  the  works  of  Sir  Walter  Scott),  of  Verona ;  the 
Ab.  Furlanetto,  the  Ab.  Barbaran  of  the  Library  of  the  Seminario,the  Ab. 
Boncetti  of  the  University  Library,  and  Prof.  Poll  of  the  Uaiyersity  of 


PREFACE.  XI 

In  preparing  the  following  treatises  for  publication, 
I  have  been  greatly  assisted  by  my  sons,  Charles  and 
Frederic,  who  translated  the  whole  of  the  MSS. 

In  conclusion  I  would  observe,  that  the  work  has 
been  begun  and  finished  under  the  pressure  of  great 
domestic  anxiety  and  ill  health,  which  sometimes  ren- 
dered it  scarcely  possible  to  give  that  attention  which 
so  arduous  a  task  required.  Under  these  circumstances 
I  have  to  request  the  indulgence  of  the  reader  for  any 
oversights  and  mis-translations  which  may  be  found  in 
Ae  work.  These  errors  will,  however,  be  less  impor- 
tant, inasmuch  as  the  translations  are  accompanied  by 
the  original  text,  and  any  mistakes  in  the  former  may 
be  corrected  by  reference  to  the  latter.  The  fatigue 
of  comparing  the  translations  with  works  ia  MS.  so 
numerous  and  so  long,  can  only  be  appreciated  by  those 
who  have  been  engaged  in  similar  undertakings. 

The  labour,  however,  has  been  far  from  irksome :  on 
the  contrary,  it  has  been  pursued  from  beginning  to 
end  wiUi  intense  interest ;  and  from  the  consolation  and 
stimulus  I  have  derived  from  the  pursuit,  in  many  a 

Padua ;  the  Baron  Galvagna,  President  of  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  at 
Venice;  Sig.  Gto.  O'Kelljr  Edwards,  son  of  Sig.  Fietro  Edwards,  who 
restored  the  public  pictures  al  Venice;  Mr.  Rawdon  Brown,  the  Ab. 
Cadorin,  the  biographer  of  Titian ;  the  Ab.  Valentinelli,  of  the  Marciana 
Libnuy ;  Dr.  Vincenzo  Lazari,  editor  of  a  recent  edition  of  the  *  Travels  of 
Marco  Polo;'  Sig.  Cigogna,  author  of  the  Taluable  work  entitled  '  Iscrizioni 
Venetiane;'  Signori  Felice  Schiavone,  Tagliapietra,  and  Quarena,  of 
Venice;  Dr.  Devit,  of  the  Public  Library  of  Bovigo;  the  Ab.  Antonelli, 
of  the  Ducal  Library,  and  Sig.  N.  Cittadella,  of  Ferrara;  Sig.  Vegetti,  of 
the  Library  of  the  UniTersity  of  Bologna ;  Sig.  Gaetano  Giordini,  Inspec- 
tor of  the  Pinacoteca,  and  Sig.  Masini,  Secretary  of  the  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts  at  Bologna ;  the  Cav.  Pezzana,  of  the  Ducal  Library,  and  Sig.  Scara* 
mnscia,  of  Parma ;  Sig.  Bombardini,  and  Sig.  Giambatista  Bas^pgio,  Pre- 
sident of  the  AthensBum,  of  Bassano. 


XU  PREFACE. 

weary  hour,  I  take  leave  of  it  with  the  regret  which 
one  always  feels  on  parting  with  an  old  and  agreeable 
companion. 

M.  P.  M. 

Brighton,  6th  Kov.,  1848. 


CONTENTS  OF  TOLL 


INTRODUCTION— 


CHAPTER  I. 

Ov  THs  Stati  or  Socibtt  and  or  tbm  Awn  dubikq  tbb 
MiDDLB  Aon    •'•         ♦        •         •         •         •        • 


Pas* 


XVII 


t 


CHAPTER  IL 


MaiAmm  PAXHrnro 


xzri 


MosJLiGB   *   •        • 
Taraia  Work  . 


CHAPTER  III. 


XZZTUl 

Ivii 


CHAPTER  IV. 


S  1.  Early  Hittoiy  of  Glan  Painting  In  Italy 

S  2.  Windows 

S  3.  Various  Methods  of  Painting  on  Glass 
S  4.  Other  Uses  to  which  Glass  was  applied 
Note, — On  Jewish  Glass   • 


XIV 


CONTENTS  OP  VOL.  I. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Ok  GlLDIKO  AKD  OTHSB  AbTS — 

§  1.  On  Gilding     .         .         .         . 

§  2.  On  Auripetrum  and  Porporino    • 

§  3.  On  the  Use  of  Wax  in  Painting 

§  4.  On  Painting  Statues  .         « 

§  5.  On  the  Implements  used  in  Painting 

§  6.  On  Leather,  Dyed  and  Gilt 

§  7.  On  Niello       .... 

§  8.  On  Djeing     .... 


Pkg« 

xcv 

xcviii 

c 

cu 

cvii 

ciz 

cxii 

••• 

CXlll 


CHAPTER  VL 

Paihtihg  ur  Oil — 

Introduction       •••.•.«,        cxvi 

§  1.  Opinions  ofEminent  Italian  Artists  as  to  the  Practice 

of  the  Old  Masters         .....      cxvii 

Ji  2.  Colours  used  in  Painting    •         •         .        •         ,    cxlviii 

{  3.  On  Oils  and  Varnishes — 

On  Grinding  and  Diluting  the  Colours 

On  the  Purification  of  Oils 

On  Dryers  and  Drying  Oib 

On  Essential  Oils 

On  Resins  .         . 

On  Varnishes 

On  Varnish  in  iPaintiiig 

On  Varnishing  Pictures       * 

§  4.  On  the  Preparation  of  the  Grounds 
Methods  of  Painting     . 

Note.—On  MS.  of  Fra  Fortnnato  of  Rovigo 


CGXXX 

ccxxxii 
ccxxxvi 

ccxIf 
ccxlviii 

cclxi 
cclxxv 
cclxxx 

celxxxi 
ccxciii 


CCCXl 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL  I.  XV 

MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE—  p^e 

Preliminary  Observations  ..•••••  1 

Tabula  de  Vocabuus  Sihonimis  kt  Equiyocu  Colorum    •        18 

(^Ibble  of  Synonymes  and  Words  of  uncertain  Hgn^ication,^ 

Alia  Tabula  Imperfecta  et  sine  Inicio  •        •         .         •        39 

(Another  Table,  imperfect  and  without  a  beginning.) 

Experimenta  de  Coloribus         ••••••        47 

(Bxperiments  on  CoUmn,) 

Makuscbipts  of  S.  Audemab — 

Preliminary  Observations 112 

Liber  Magistri  Petri  de  Sancto  Audemaro  de  Coloribus 
Faciendis •       117 

{The  Booh  of  Master  Peter ,  of  S.  Audemar,  on  making 
Cohurs,) 

Manuscrifts  of  E&aclius — 

Preliminary  Observations 166 

De  Coloribus  et  Artibus  Romanorum — 

{On  tlte  Cokurs  and  Arts  cfthe  Romans)— 

Lib.  I.     .....••         •  183 

Lib.  II 199 

Lib.  Ill 206 

Manuscrifts  of  Archerius — 

De  Coloribus  Diversis  Modis  Tractatur         ...      259 
{A  Treatise  on  preparing  many  kinds  of  Colours.) 

De  Diversis  Coloribus •       281 

(On  Colours  qf  different  kinds,) 

Additional  Recipes  by  Jehan  le  Begue  .         .         .291 


ERRATA. 


0 


Page  4,  line  12  firom  bottoms/or  Again  at  Milan,  rmd  at  Genoa. 

top,/)r  Jaoobo,  t^ad  Jacobas. 
bottom,  dele  «<  the." 
top        ) 
bottom  I -^  ^  Janua,  read  at  Genoa. 

bottom,ybr  mixed  however  with  oil  and  a  little  Tarnishi 
rtad  a  little  yarnish  being  mixed  with  the  oiL  ;, 


16, 

20 

n 

10 

68, 

12&18 

82, 

5 

224, 

.       17 

INTRODUCTION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ON  THE  STATE  OF  SOCIETY  AND  OP  THE  ARTS  DURING 

THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

History  gives  but  a  melancholy  view  of  the  state  of 
society  in  Europe  towards  the  close  of  the  dark  ages. 
The  domestic  habits  and  accommodations  of  the  people 
were  rude  in  the  extreme-  The  nobles  were  devoted 
to  the  pursuit  of  arms,  and  when  not  actually  engaged 
in  war  their  time  was  occupied  in  hunting  and  hawking, 
of  which  they  were  passionately  fond.  Nor  did  they 
disdain,  in  the  intervals  of  these  employments,  to  be* 
come  highway-robbers,  and  to  possess  themselves  by 
force  of  the  money  and  baggage  of  the  travellers  whom 
chance  threw  in  their  way.* 

Men  so  employed  could  have  but  little  relish  for  the 
elegancies  and  comforts  of  domestic  life.  Their  castles 
were  merely  a  retreat  from  the  pursuit  of  their  enemies, 
and  were  more  suited  to  secure  the  defence  and  safety 
of  their  possessions  than  to  display  their  wealth  and 
magnificence.  The  walls  of  these  edifices  were  lofty 
and  substantial,  the  openings  forthe  admission  of  light 
few  and  narrow,  the  apertures  unclosed  with  glass ;  the 
interior  walls,  which  were  bare,  had  no  decorations  but 
arms  and  the  trophies  of  the  chase.  The  intellectual 
condition  of  the  nobles  was  scarcely  more  advanced 


1  See  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  toI.  iii.  p.  368. 
VOL.  I.  b 


XViil  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  i. 

than  their  domestic  arrangements ;  the  accomplishment 
of  reading  was  possessed  by  few,  that  of  Mmting  was 
still  more  rare.  Neither  Frederic  Barbarossa,  John, 
King  of  Bavaria,  nor  Philip  the  Hardy  of  France, 
could  read ;  nor  could  Theodoric  or  Charlemagne 
write. ^  Of  the  barons  whose  names  are  affixed  to 
Magna  Charta  very  few  could  write. 

The  domestic  accommodations  were  in  accordance 
with  the  edifices.  A  passage  quoted  by  Mr.  Hallam,' 
from  a  work  written  about  the  year  1300,  shows  the  state 
of  manners  in  Italy  during  the  age  of  Frederic  Barba- 
rossa.'  "In  those  days,**  the  author  observes,  "the 
manners  of  the  Italians  were  rude.  A  man  and  his 
wife  eat  off  the  same  plate.  There  were  no  wooden- 
handled  knives  nor  more  than  one  or  two  drinking-cups 
in  a  house.  Candles  of  wax  or  tallow  were  unknown ; 
a  servant  held  a  torch  during  supper.  The  clothes  of 
men  were  of  leather  unlined;  scarcely  any  gold  or 
silver  was  seen  on  their  dress." 

Such  a  state  of  society,  it  may  be  readily  supposed, 
afforded  small  scope  for  the  development  of  the  arts. 
They  were  not,  however,  totally  lost.  The  cloister, 
while  it  afforded  a  shelter  and  retreat  from  the  more 
active  pursuits  of  life,  afforded  also  to  the  monks  leisure 
and  opportunity  for  cherishing  the  arts,  the  technical 
processes  of  which  were  preserved  in  their  convents. 
The  magnificent  cathedrals  which  were  erected  during  the 
eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries,*  not  only  in 

I  Hallain,  Middle  Ages,  vol.  in.  p.  329.  >  Ibid.,  p.  409. 

s  Frederic  Barbarossa  was  bom  a.i>.  1 121,  ascended  the  throne  ▲.!>.  1152, 
and  died  a.d.  1190. 

4  In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  the  Basilica  of  St.  Mark*s  at  Venice, 
and  the  Cathedrals  of  Pisa  and  Siena,  were  erected  ;  and  in  the  thirteenth  the 
Basilica  of  S.  Francesco  di  Assisi,  the  Duomo  of  Florence,  that  of  Onrieto, 
and  the  churches  of  S.  Antonio  at  Padua,  Sta.  Maria  Norella  at  Florence, 
S.  Croce,  SS.  Giovanni  and  Paulo,  and  the  Frari  at  Venice,  and  the  Campo 
Santo  of  Pisa.  In  other  parts  of  Europe,  the  Cathedrals  of  Cologne,  of 
Beauvais,  Chartres,  Rheims,  Amiens,  Brussels,  York,  Salisbury,  West- 
minster, Burgos,  Toledo,  &c.,  were  built.  Sec,  on  this  subject,  Marchese, 
Memorie  dei  piiiinsigni  Pittori,  &c.  Domenicani,  vol.  i.  p.  17. 


CBAF.  t]     SOCIETY  AND  ARTS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGEa  xix 

Italy,  but  in  the  more  northern  parts  of  Europe,  gave 
an  additional  impulse  to  the  study  of  painting.  It  was 
the  delight  of  the  monks  to  adorn  tiiese  edifices  with 
painted  windows  of  the  most  brilliant  colours,  to  cover 
the  interior  with  pictures  representing  Scripture  stories, 
which  were  to  serve  for  the  catechism  and  instruction 
of  the  common  people,*  and  to  embellish  the  choral 
books  with  the  most  elaborate  miniatures. 

It  is  impossible  to  study  the  history  of  the  arts  of  the 
middle  ages  without  considering  the  immense  influence 
exercised  over  society  by  monastic  institutions.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  inquire  here  whether  this  influence  was 
the  cause  or  the  eflFect  of  the  darkness  which  hung  over 
Europe  at  this  period ;  it  is  sufficient  to  state  that  it 
extended  over  all  classes  of  society,  for  the  monks,  who 
were  the  legislators'  and  physicians'  of  that  period, 
and  who  possessed  almost  exclusively  all  the  learning 
of  the  age,  were  almost  the  only  persons  skilled  in  the 
arts  of  sculpture,  painting,  and  architecture.  Marchese 
observes,  with  reference  to  the  services  rendered  to  the 
arts  by  the  monks  in  Italy,^  that  *^  after  having  taught 
their  ferocious  conquerors  the  duty  of  forgiveness, 
struggled  against  the  pride  of  the  powerful,  and  preached 
the  Gospel  in  the  midst  of  the  barbarous  feudal  laws, 
they  prepared  themselves  to  build  bridges,  to  embank 
rivers,  to  construct  magnificent  cathedrals  and  abbeys, 
many  of  which  remain  to  record  the  variety  of  their 
genius  and  the  benefits  they  conferred  on  mankind.  In 
vain  would  the  patronage  of  Charlemagne,  of  Theodo- 


1  An  ioicription  formerly  over  the  principal  door  of  the  Church  of 
8.  Nixier  de  Troyes  states  that  a  certain  cur6  had  caused  three  windows  to 
be  painted  "  for  the  catechism  and  instruction  of  the  people." — L'Anglois, 
Esni  snr  la  Peintnre  sur  Verre,  p.  16. 

*  Mocheim's  Eccles.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.  pp.  26  and  377  n. 

s  See  Introduction  to  Mr.  Eastlake's  *  Materials  for  a  History  of  OU 
Fainting.* 

4  Memorie  de*  Pittori,  &c.,  p.  13. 

62 


XX  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  i. 

linda,*  of  Theodoric,  and  of  some  of  the  popes  have 
sufficed  to  save  the  arts  from  total  ruin,  if  the  monks 
had  not,  with  so  much  affection,  protected  and  practised 
them  during  so  many  centuries.  They  preserved  to  us 
the  traditions  transmitted  to  them  by  the  Byzantines, 
and  bequeathed  them  to  future  ages,  stamping  them 
with  that  expression  and  melancholy  which  transpires 
in  them  in  spite  of  the  inelegance  of  the  forms ;  and 
they  ennobled  by  their  profession  the  arts  which  their 
barbarous  conquerors  despised." 

The  proof  that  Europe  is  indebted  to  the  religious 
communities  for  the  preservation  of  the  arts  during  the 
dark  ages,  rests  on  the  fact  that  the  most  ancient 
examples  of  Christian  art  consist  of  the  remains  of 
mural  pictures  in  churches,  of  illuminations  in  sacred 
books,  and  of  vessels  for  the  use  of  the  church  and  the 
altar,  and  on  the  absence  of  all  similar  decorations  on 
buildings  and  utensils  devoted  to  secular  uses  during 
the  same  period,  to  which  may  be  added  that  many  of 
the  early  treatises  on  painting  were  the  work  of  eccle- 
siastics as  well  as  the  paintings  themselves.  A  similar 
remark  may  be  made  with  regard  to  architecture,  many 
of  the  earliest  professors  of  which  were  monks. 

Fainting  was  essentially  a  religious  occupation.  The 
early  professors  of  the  art  believed  that  they  had  an 
especial  mission  to  make  known  the  works  and  miracles 
of  God  to  the  common  people,  who  were  unacquainted 
with  letters,  "agli  uomini  grossi  che  non  sanno  lettere."* 
Actuated  by  this  sentiment,  it  is  not  surprising  that  so 
many  of  the  Italian  painters  should  have  been  members 
of  monastic  establishments.  It  has  been  observed  that 
the  different  religious  orders  selected  some  particular 
branch  of  the  art,  which  they  practised  with  great  suc- 

1  Theodolinda  caused  to  be  painted  on  the  walls  of  the  palace  of  Monza 
the  principal  events  in  the  history  of  the  Lombards.  See  Bio,  de  la  Pot^ie 
Chrdtienne,  p.  20,  n. 

s  See  the  Statutes  of  the  Sienese  Painters — Carteggio  Inedito,  ^c.^  toI.  ii. 


CHAP.  I.]     SOCIETY  AND  ARTS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGEd.  xxi 

cess  in  the  convents  of  their  respective  orders.  Thus 
the  Gesuati  and  Umiliati  attached  themselves  to  paint- 
mg  on  glass  and  architecture,  the  Olivetani  to  Tarsia 
work,  the  Benedictines  and  Camaldolites  to  painting 
generally,  and  the  monks  of  Monte  Casino  to  miniature 
painting,  while  the  Dominicans  appear  to  have  practised 
all  the  various  branches  of  the  fine  arts  (with  the  ex- 
ception of  mosaics)  and  to  have  produced  artists  who 
excelled  in  each. 

The  various  remains  of  the  artistic  skill  of  the  monks 
of  the  middle  ages  which  have  escaped  the  ravages  of 
time  sufficiently  attest  their  mechanical  dexterity  in 
these  srtSj  and  the  excellence  of  the  traditionary  prac* 
tices  of  which  they  were  for  some  time  the  sole  depo- 
sitaries. 

Great,  however,  as  the  technical  skill  of  the  monks 
undoubtedly  was  at  this  period,  their  paintings  were 
distinguished  neither  for  accuracy  of  drawing  nor  for 
elegance  or  variety  of  design.  Until  the  time  of 
Cimabue  and  Giotto  the  Byzantine  type  was  adhered 
to  with  little  variation  in  Italy,  or  at  least  in  the 
northern  and  southern  parts ;  but  in  Home  a  somewhat 
different  style  prevailed,  which  has  been  called  the 
Italian.  The  mural  pictures  and  mosaics  throughout 
Lombardy  presented  everywhere  the  same  lengthened  ^ 
and  attenuated  figures,  standing  on  the  tips  of  their  toes 
(for  the  painters  of  those  days  did  not  possess  the  art  of 
representing  the  feet  in  perspective),  with  ample  and 
flowing  draperies,  narrow  and  ill-shaped  extremities, 
solemn  and  severe  aspects,  and  large,  open,  and  staring 
black  eyes  ;  the  outlines  of  the  figures  were  hard  and 
black,  cutting  sharply  the  gold  back-ground,  and  the 
expression  of  the  features  inspired  awe  and  terror.  The 
same  type  prevailed  in  the  districts  of  Southern  Italy. 


1  The  figures  of  the  Byzantine  school  were  sometimes  thirteen  heads  in 
height. 


XXll  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  i. 

The  good  taste  of  Cimabue  introduced  in  the  thirteenth 
century  a  better  style  of  art,  which  was  much  improved 
by  his  gifted  pupil  Giotto  ;  and  such  was  the  influence 
of  their  example  that  the  Byzantine  style  was  banished 
from  Tuscany,  and  wherever  the  works  and  influence 
of  these  artists  extended. 

The  improvement  in  the  civil  condition  of  the  people 
followed,  if  it  did  not  keep  pace  with  the  advancement 
of  the  arts.  In  the  twelfth  century  there  were  many 
influences  which  had  been  for  some  time  silently  pro- 
ducing a  change  in  the  manners  of  the  people.  Among 
these  may  be  enumerated  the  Crusades,  which,  by 
making  the  turbulent  and  warlike  nobles  of  Europe 
acquainted  with  the  arts  and  luxuries  of  the  more  re- 
fined and  polished  Saracens,  awakened  in  them  a  taste 
for  dress  and  the  elegant  enjoyments  of  life ;  the  com- 
mercial enterprise  of  a  few  cities,^  which,  in  spite  of 
wars  and  tumults,  succeeded  in  establishing  an  uninter- 
rupted intercourse  with  Constantinople  and  Palestine, 
and  introducing  the  merchandise  of  Asia  and  Africa 
into  the  interior  of  Europe  ;*  the  settlements  in  Sicily, 
in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  and  in  Spain,  of  the  Sa- 
racens, who,  less  distracted  with  wars  than  the  Eu- 
ropeans, had  leisure  to  attend  to  the  erection  of  palaces 
and  to  the  cultivation  of  the  arts ;  and  the  establish- 
ment ,of  the  silk  and  woollen  manufactories,'  and  the 
consequent  increase  in  the  comforts  and  conveniences 
of  life.  To  these  may  be  added  the  occasional  cessation 
of  war,  which  enabled  the  laity  to  devote  themselves 
to  the  study  of  the  arts.     During  this  period  the  kind 


1  Venice,  Amalfi,  Pisa,  Genoa.  See  Hallam,  Mid.  Ages,  yol.  iii.  pp. 
367,  388,  389,  390. 

^  Saggio  8011'  Antico  Commercio,  suir  Arti,  e  sulIa  Marina  de'  Vene- 
ziani,  da  Jacopo  Filiasi,  pp.  27  n.,  153. 

s  A  silk  manufactory  was  established  at  Palermo  in  1148,  and  in  the 
same  century  at  Genoa.  There  were  woollen  manufactories  in  England  in 
the  twelfth  century. — Hallam,  Midd.  Ages,  vol.  iii.  pp.  367,  393. 


CHAP.  I.]    SOCIETY  AND  ARTS  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  xxm 

of  painting  most  practised  in  Italy  was  mosaic,  but  in 
the  western  part  of  Europe  painting  on  glass  appears 
to  have  been  exercised  in  preference  to  all  others. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  the  manners  of  the  people 
were  still  rude  and  uncultivated,  but  towards  the  latter 
end  of  this  century  a  sensible  refinement  took  place, 
especially  in  Italy.  In  Venice  there  were  at  this  period 
laws  in  which  were  mentioned  the  tari£&  regulating  the 
manufactories  of  gauzes,  purple  cloth,  and  cloth  of 
gold;^  this  is  sufficient  evidence  of  the  establishment 
of  manufactories  of  these  articles  and  of  the  increased 
taste  for  dress.  At  this  period  the  commerce  of  Mar- 
seilles wilii  the  Levant  was  in  its  greatest  prosperity. 
Montpellier  and  Aries  were  also  engaged  in  the  same 
pursuit,  and  at  the  end  of  this  century  or  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  the  first  Venetian  vessels  atrrived  at 
Antwerp  laden  with  spices,  drugs,  and  silk  stufis ;  to 
these  were  added  perfumes,  cotton,  and  colours.^ 

The  amelioration  of  the  manners  and  habits  of  the 
people  was  decidedly  favourable  to  the  development  of 
the  arts  in  Italy,  and  the  influx  of  Greek  artists,  after 
the  taking  of  Constantinople  by  the  Latins  in  1204, 
gave  them  an  additional  impulse,  and  contributed  to  their 
revival  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  From  the 
ancient  mosaic  on  the  Duomo  of  Spoleto,  dated  1207,' 
works  of  art,  bearing  the  names  of  the  artists  and  the 
date,  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  annals  of  art. 
Guido  da  Siena  painted  the  large  Madonna  in  S.  Do- 
menico  at  Siena  in  1221 ;  and  the  works  of  Giunto  da 
Pisa  were  executed  during  the  early  part  of  this 
century. 

These  artists  were  succeeded  by  Cimabue,  to  whose 
influence  is  ascribed  the  revival  of  painting  in  Florence. 


1  See  Filiari,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  153. 

S  Giueciardini,  Belgii  Descript,  Amsterdam,  1613.  quoted  by  Depping. 

3  Kugler,  HandbixA  of  Painthig  in  Italjr»  p.  38. 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  i. 

In  the  middle  of  this  century  arose  the  Florentine 
school  of  mosaic  painters  under  Andrea  Tafi,  who  was 
taught  the  art  by  the  Greeks ;  and  the  family  of  Cos- 
mati,  also  painters  in  mosaic,  flourished  at  Rome  about 
the  same  period. 

In  France  and  England  other  branches  of  the  art 
were  cultivated  with  success,  especially  painting  on 
glass ;  and  a  taste  for  mural  paintings  appears  to  have 
arisen  in  England. 

The  arts  had  also  made  some  progress  in  Spain 
during  this  century,  for  the  corporation  of  the  painters 
and  sculptors  of  Barcelona  dates  from  the  same  period.' 
The  incorporation  of  similar  societies  in  Italy  appears 
to  have  taken  place  at  a  later  period.' 

During  this  century  the  kings  of  England  found 
leisure  to  attend  to  the  decoration  of  the  interior  of  their 
palaces.  It  is  ascertained  from  records  preserved  at 
Winchester,  that  there  was  a  "  painted  chamber"  in  this 
the  favourite  city  of  the  kings  of  England,  as  early  as 
the  year  1216;*  and  it  appears  also  from  another 
document  that  this  apartment  was  decorated  with  his- 
torical pictures.*  In  other  documents,  paintings,  the 
subjects  of  which  are  mentioned,  were  ordered  to  be 
executed  in  the  Hall  at  Winchester,  in  the  Painted 
Chamber  and  Palace  at  Westminster,  in  the  Castle  of 
Nottingham,  and  other  Royal  residences.* 


1  A.D.  1291.  Capmany,  Memorias,  &c.,  tome  iii.,  cited  by  Depping, 
vol.  i.  p.  264. 

>  The  statutes  of  the  Sienese  painters  are  dated  1365 ;  those  of  the 
goldsmiths,  1361;  of  the  Florentine  painters  in  1339.  Those  of  Padua 
were  probably  some  years  earlier.  The  Florentine  painters  were  included 
in  the  same  company  as  the  physicians  and  apothecaries.  See  Gaye,  Car- 
teggio  Inedito,  vols.  i.  and  ii.  p.  i. 

s  Rol.  Claus.  4  Hen.  III.,  mem.  16,  cited  in  the  Archaeological 
Journal  for  1 845,  p.  69. 

4  See  Mr.  Eastlake^s  <  Materials,*  p.  556. 

f*  Rol.  Liberat.  17  Hen.  III.  mem.  6,  and  other  documents  quoted  in 
the  Archaeological  Journal  for  1845,  pp.  70-77  ;  and  in  Mr.  Eastlake's 
*  Materials  for  a  History  of  Fainting  in  Oil,'  vol.  i.  pp.  552-561. 


^^^^mmtm^^m^wum't^ 


CHAP,  l]    society  and  arts  op  the  middle  ages.  XXV 

The  analysis  of  early  mural  pictures,  and  the  direc- 
tions of  Le  Begue,  Theophilus,  and  the  author  of  the 
Bolognese  MS.,  place  it  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  greater 
part  of  these  paintings  were  executed  in  tempera. 
Many  of  those  which  are  called  fresco  paintings,  were 
merely  commenced  in  fresco  and  finished  in  distemper.^ 
The  art  of  fresco-painting,  properly  so  called,  did  not 
arise  until  some  time  after  the  period  of  which  I  am 
now  speaking.  The  paintings  on  the  walls  of  the 
Chapel  of  S.  Jacopo  di  Pistoia  were  ascertained  by  Pro- 
fessor Branchi  to  have  been  executed  upon  a  ground 
composed  of  sulphate  of  lime  (plaster  of  Paris,  the 
gesso  of  the  Italians),  carbonate  of  lime,  and  a  yellowish 
colouring  matter  tempered  with  glue.  It  has  also  been 
ascertained  that  many  of  the  beautiful  mural  paintings 
by  Bernardino  Luini,  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Monastero 
Maggiore  at  Milan,  were  not  painted  in  buon-fresco,  but 
on  white  stucco,  in  the  ancient  manner.' 

It  appears,  from  MSS.  of  this  period,  that  it  was 
sometimes  the  custom  in  England  to  whitewash  the 
exterior  of  castles,  and  sometimes  to  paint  them  of  three 
colours.^ 

"  This  castel  is  paynted  without  with  thre  maner  colours : 
Eede  brennand  colour  is  above  toward  the  fair  tours, 
Meyne  colour  is  y-middes  of  ynde  and  of  blewe, 
Grene  colour  be  the  ground  that  never  changes  hewe." 

In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  the  houses 
of  the  English,  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes,  con- 
sisted in  general  of  a  ground-floor  only,  divided  into 
two  apartments,  namely,  a  hall,  into  which  the  prin- 
cipal door  opened,  and  which  was  the  room  for  cooking, 
eating,  and  receiving  visitors ;  and  a  chamber  adjoining 
the  hall,  and  opening  out  of  it,  which  was  the  private 
apartment  of  the  females  of  the  family  and  the  bed- 

1  See  the  First  and  Second  Reports  of  the  Commissioners  of  Fine  Arts. 

*  Milano  e  il  suo  Territorio,  vol.  ii.  p.  254. 

'  See  ArchsBological  Journal,  Fart  IV.,  Jan.  1845,  p.  304. 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  i. 

room  at  night.  The  greater  part  of  the  houses  in 
London  were  built  after  this  plan/  The  habitations 
of  the  more  wealthy  classes  differed  from  those  of  the 
middle  ranks  only  in  having  an  upper  floor,  called  a 
soler,  or  solar,  on  which  was  an  apartment  called  a 
^'  saloon."  The  access  to  this  was  by  a  flight  of  stairs 
on  the  outside  of  the  house.*  The  soler  is  mentioned 
in  the  Le  Begue  MS.,  p.  88,  probably  with  reference  to 
an  English  house,  since  the  term  occurs  in  the  recipes 
given  by  Theodore  of  Flanders  to  Alcherius.  A  differ- 
ent style  of  architecture  prevailed  on  the  Continent,  for 
it  is  related  that  when  Henry  III.  visited  S.  Louis  at 
Paris,  he  greatly  admired  the  houses  of  that  city,  con- 
sisting for  the  most  part  of  many  stories."  In  houses 
of  this  description  there  was  but  little  room  for  decora- 
tion ;  and  they  appear  to  have  been  but  scantily  pro- 
vided with  furniture-  Even  at  a  much  later  period, 
neither  looking-glasses  nor  chairs  are  mentioned  in  the 
catalogue  of  the  furniture  of  Contarini,  the  rich  Vene- 
tian trader,  who  resided  at  St.  Botolph's,  in  London,  in 
1481;^  or  in  that  of  a  nobleman  in  1572.  The 
Bolognese  MS.,  however,  mentions  glass  mirrors,  in  a 
manner  which  proves  that  they  were  not  uncommon  in 
Italy  at  the  time  that  MS.  was  written. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  taste  for  decoration  ex- 
tended, as  might  be  supposed,  to  the  castles  of  the 
nobility,  and  the  apartments  were  decorated  with  his- 
torical paintings  from  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 

*^  Ther  men  myzth  se,  ho  that  wolde, 
Arcangeles  of  rede  golde, 
ffy tly  mad  of  o  molde, 
Lowynge  ful  lyzth : 

1  See  notice  of  the  '  Chronicle  of  the  Mayors  and  Sheriff  of  London 
from  1188  to  1274/  in  the  Arch.  Joum.  for  Sept.  1847,  p.  282. 

<  Illustrations  of  the  Domestic  Architecture  of  the  Middle  Ages,  hy 
Mr.  Wright,  Arch«  Joum.,  Sept.  1844. 

3  Arch.  Jour.,  Sept.  1847,  p.  282. 

^  Hallam*8  Middle  Ages,  toJ.  iii.  p.  428. 


CHAP,  t]    SOCIETY  AND  ARTS  OP  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  XXVil 

With  the  Pocalyps  of  Jon, 
The  Powles  Pystoles  everychon, 
The  paraboles  of  Salamon, 

Paynted  ful  ryzth. 
And  the  foure  gospellores, 
Sytting  on  pyllores, 
Hend,  herkeneth  and  heres, 

Gyf  hyt  be  zoure  wyll. 
Austyn  and  Gregory, 
Jerome  and  Ambrose, 
Thus  the  fonre  doctores 

Lystened  than  tylle. 
Ther  was  purtred  in  ston, 
The  fylesoferes  everychon, 
The  story  of  Absolon, 

That  lykyd  full  ylle."* 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  all  the  early  MSS.  pub- 
lished in  this  volume  clocks  are  not  mentioned,  but  the 
hours  of  the  day  were  reckoned  from  sun-rise,  and 
shorter  periods  by  the  time  occupied  in  repeating  Ave 
Marias,  Paternosters,  and  Misereres.  From  this  we 
may  collect  that,  although  the  apartments  of  castles  and 
palaces  might  reckon  among  their  articles  of  domestic 
convenience — 

'^  An  orrelegge  (horloge)  one  hyzth 
To  ryng^e  the  ours  at  nyzth,*' 

they  were  unknown  in  convents,  and  among  the  mid- 
dle classes,  at  least  until  the  later  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century. 

1  From  a  manuscript  of  the  fifteenth  century,  in  the  Public  Library  at 
Cambridge,  quoted  in  the  Arch.  Jour.,  Sept.  1844. 


xxvm  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  u. 


CHAPTER  IL 


MINIATURE    PAINTING. 


Having  thus  taken  a  cursory  view  of  the  state  of  society 
and  of  the  arts  during  the  middle  s^es,  it  may  not  be 
uninteresting  to  treat  more  particularly  of  those  arts, 
the  technical  processes  of  which  are  described  in  the 
following  MSS.,  in  order  to  render  the  various  practical 
directions  more  available  to  the  student,  and  more 
interesting  to  the  general  reader. 

It  has  been  observed  *  that  the  rise  and  progress  of 
painting  is  better  shown  by  miniatures  than  by  large 
pictures,  because  the  altar-pieces  and  frescoes  were  fre- 
quently repetitions  of  smaller  works  painted  in  choral 
books,  and  the  parchment  on  which  they  are  executed 
being  better  preserved  than  pictures  on  walls,  and  less 
injured  by  retouching,  represented  more  exactly  the  types 
and  traditions  of  the  early  schools.  Besides  the  minia- 
tures painted  in  books,  it  was  also  the  custom  to  affix  to 
fivery  picture  a  predella  or  gradino,"  on  which  the 
different  events  of  the  life  of  the  Saint  represented  in 
the  picture  were  portrayed  in  miniature ;  the  frames 
were  also  ornamented  with  small  figures,  so  that  the 
study  of  miniature-painting  was  necessary  to  all  painters. 
We  turn,  therefore,  with  increased  interest  to  the  early 
history  of  miniature-painting,  which,  after  the  revival  of 
the  art,'  must  be  sought  chiefly  in  the  archives  of  the 

I  Marchese,  Memorie,  &c.,  vol.  i.  lib.  i.  cap.  xi.  p.  176. 

*  The  step  on  the  top  of  the  altar  was  so  called. 

3  The  school  of  miniature  painters  was  yery  important  during  the  eighth 
and  ninth  centuries.  Kugler  mentions  some  interesting  illuminations  exe- 
cuted in  manuscripts  of  this  period.  (See  Handbook  of  Painting  in  Italy, 
p.  20.) 


^mm^m 


CHAP.  IL]  MINIATURE  PAINTING.  XXlX 

convents  of  the  Benedictine,  CamaJdolese,  and  Domini- 
can monks,  and  in  those  of  the  Canons  Regular.  It  is 
impossible  to  imagine  any  employment  more  congenial 
to  the  peaceful  and  contemplative  lives  of  the  monks,  in 
the  intervals  of  their  religious  duties,  than  the  pleasing 
and  almost  luxurious  occupation  of  illustrating  the 
sacred  books  with  stories  from  Scripture,  and  of  ornament- 
ing with  elaborate  miniatures  the  works  of  Virgil  and  a 
few  of  the  other  classic  authors.  It  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  this  kind  of  painting  should  have  found 
so  many  followers  in  the  cloisters. 

The  art  of  miniature  painting  was  divided  into  two 
branches:  the  professors  of  the  first  were  styled 
"  Miniatori,"  or  miniature  painters,  or  illuminators  of 
books ;  and  iliose  of  the  second,  ^*  Miniatori  caligrafi,'' 
or  "  pulchri  scriptores.**  To  the  first  class  belonged  the 
task  of  painting  the  Scripture  stories,  the  borders,  and 
the  arabesques,  and  of  laying  on  the  gold  and  ornaments 
oftheMSS. 

The  second  wrote  the  whole  of  the  work,  and  those 
initial  letters  generaUy  drawn  with  blue  or  red,  full  of 
flourishes  and  fancifiil  ornaments,  in  which  the  patience 
of  the  writer  is  frequently  more  to  be  admired  than  his 
genius.  The  wood-cut^  in  the  next  page  shows  a  writer 
of  the  fifteenth  century  engs^ed  in  this  occupation  and 
surrounded  with  his  various  implements.  With  the 
miniatori  may  be  classed  the  authors  and  collectors  of 
many  of  the  MSS.  now  published,  and  others  of  a  similar 
nature.  To  the  second  class  belongs  Alberto  Porzello, 
who  is  mentioned  in  the  Le  Begue  MS.  to  have  been 
*^  perfect  in  all  kinds  of  writing,  and  to  have  kept  a 
school  at  Milan,  where  he  taught  the  art  to  young  men 
and  boys."  But  the  two  branches  were  frequently  prac- 

1  Copied  from  the  work  of  M.  Aim^  Champollion-Figeac,  entitled 
'  Louis  et  Charles,  Dues  d'Orldans,  leur  Influence  sur  les  Arts,  la  Litt<Sra- 
ture,  et  TEsprit  de  leur  Si^le,  d'apr^  les  Documents  Originaux  et  les 
Peintres  des  Manuscrits,'  Paris,  1844. 


INTBODUCTION. 


i*  lAi  BiblieMfm  Roj/altat  Farii. 


tised  by  the  same  person,  whence  the  term  "  writing " 
was  also  extended  to  painting,  and  the  word  was  not 
confined  to  miniature  painting  only,  but  was  applied  to 
painting  on  glass,  which  was  also  called  "  writing  on 
glass."  Ab  to  the  origin  of  the  word  "  miniature,"  it 
received  its  name  from  the  practice  of  writing  the 
rubrics  and  initial  letters  with  minium  or  red  lead. 
The  French  term  "  illuminer**  is  supposed  to  be  derived 
from  the  custom  of  illuminating  or  hei^tening  the 
lights  with  gold.  The  term  occurs  in  the  Lucca  MS., 
in  the  chapter  *'  De  Lazuri." 

Previous  to  the  invention  of  priotiog  the  art  of 
calligraphy  was  of  great  importuice.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom and  the  pride  of  the  large  religious  establiahments 
to  have  the  books  used  in  the  celebration  of  Divine 
Service  exquisitely  written,  and  adorned  with  minia- 
tures. The  recent  researches  into  the  archives  of  the 
different  Italian  cities  have  broi^ht  to  light  the  minutes 
of  expenses  of  some  of  these  books,  which  prove  the 


CHAP.  II.]  MINIATURE  PAINTING.  »X1 

time  occupied  in  painting  them,  and  the  large  sums 
paid  to  the  artists  for  executing  them,  or  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  materials ;  for  the  monks  did  not  receive 
payment  for  the  works  intended  for  their  own  convents. 
The  choral  books  of  the  convent  of  S.  Marco,  at 
Florence,  were  written  and  painted  by  Fra  Benedetto 
del  Mugello  (the  elder  brother  of  Frate  Angelico^), 
with  the  assistance  of  the  monks.  The  cost  of  these 
books  was  1500  ducats,  and  the  time  occupied  in  com- 
pleting them  was  five  years.' 

The  choral  books  belonging  to  the  cathedral  of 
Ferrara  are  thirty  in  number;  twenty-two  of  which 
are  26  inches  long  by  18  in  breadth,  and  the  remaining 
eight  smaller.  They  were  begun  in  the  year  1477, 
and  completed  in  1535.'  The  most  interesting  of 
these  books,  for  the  beauty  of  the  characters,  as  well  as 
for  the  miniatures,  were  executed  by  Jacopo  Filippo 
d' Argenta,  Frate  Evangelista  da  Reggio,  a  Franciscan, 
Andrea  delle  Veze,  Giovanni  Vendramin  of  Padua, 
and  Martino  di  Giorgio  da  Modena.  The  parchment 
on  which  these  books  are  written  is  in  excellent  pre- 
servation. It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  great  part  of 
the  parchment  or  vellum  for  these  books  was  brought 
from  Germany,  or,  at  least,  was  manufactured  by 
Germans.  There  is  an  entry  in  the  records  of  the 
cathedral,  for  the  year  1477}  of  a  sum  of  money  paid 
to  M.  Alberto  da  Lamagna  for  265  skins  of  vellum ; 
of  another  sum,  paid  in  1501,  for  60  skins,  to  Piero 
Iberno,  also  a  German ;  and  to  Creste,  another  Ger- 
man, for  50  skins,  furnished  by  them  on  account  of 
these  books. 

The  magnificent  choral  books,  thirteen  in  number, 
which  formerly  belonged  to  the  Certosa  of  Pavia,  are 

1  Called  also  Beato  Angelico. 

*  Marchese,  Memorie,  &c.,  toI.  i.  p.  189. 

'  Document!  riaguardanti  i  Libri  Corali  del  Duomo  di  Ferrara,  commu- 
nicated by  the  Ab.  Antonelli,  of  the  Public  Library  at  Ferrara,  to  Sig.  Gua- 
iandi,  by  whom  they  were  published  in  his  Memorie,  &c.,  ser.  ti.  p.  153. 


XXXU  NTBODUCTION.  [chap.  ii. 

now  in  the  library  of  Brera,  at  Milan.  They  are  of 
very  large  size,  probably  three  feet  by  two,  and  many 
of  the  illuminations  are  very  beautiful. 

As  a  work  of  art,  the  choral  books  of  the  Monastery 
degli  Angeli  in  Florence  are  perhaps  more  remarkable 
than  those  of  Ferrara.  They  are  twenty  in  number, 
and  were  all  written  by  one  writer,  and  embellished  by 
one  miniature  painter.  The  former,  Don  Jacopo,  was 
a  Camaldolese  monk,  of  the  same  religious  house  at 
Florence;  and,  according  to  Vasari,^  was  not  only  a 
most  excellent  person,  but  the  best  writer  of  initial 
letters  that  ever  lived,  not  only  in  Tuscany,  but  in 
Europe;  and  he  adds,  that  these  choral  books  are 
perhaps,  as  regards  the  writing,  the  finest  and  largest 
in  Italy;  Don  Jacopo  also  wrote  other  books  at 
Rome  and  at  Venice.  The  miniatures  in  the  above- 
mentioned  choral  books,  which  are  all  by  the  hand  of 
Don  Silvestro,  are  not  less  excellent  than  the  writing ; 
and  so  great  was  the  esteem  in  which  these  two  monks, 
D.  Jacopo  and  D.  Silvestro,  were  held  in  their  con- 
vent, that  the  right  hand  of  each  was  preserved  in  a 
casket  with  the  utmost  veneration.  Yasari  adds  that 
he,  who  had  seen  these  books  so  many  times,  was 
astonished  at  the  skill  in  design  and  ability  with  which 
they  were  executed,  at  a  period  when  the  art  of  design 
was  all  but  lost ;  for  these  monks  flourished  about  the 
year  1350. 

The  choral  books  of  the  Cathedral  of  Siena  have 
been  preserved  with  the  greatest  care.  They  were  all 
attributed  by  Vasari  to  Piero  di  Perugia,*  but  they  are 
known  to  have  been  painted  by  several  artists,  among 
whom  may  be  mentioned  Liberale  di  Verona  and 
Ansino  di  Pietro,  whose  names  are  inscribed  on  their 
paintings'  There  were  also  fourteen  magnificent 
choral  books  in  the  convent  of  S***  Maria  del  Sasso, 

1  Life  of  Don  Lorenzo. 
*  Life  of  Agnolo  Gaddi.  ^  Marchese,  Memorie,  &c.,  vol.  i.  p.  197, 


CHAF.u.]  MINIATURE  PAINTING.  xxxiii 

near  Bibbiena,  which  were  executed  by  Fra  Pietro  di 
Tramoggiano,  and  which  were  valued  at  upwards  of 
1500  scudi.  Many  of  the  miniatures  were  cut  out 
and  carried  away,  others  were  sent  to  S***  Maria 
Novella,  at  Florence ;  but  the  books  are  now  lost,  and 
the  convent  does  not  at  the  present  time  possess  a 
single  miniature.^ 

The  sister  arts  of  calligraphy  and  miniature  painting 
flourished  simultaneously  in  Italy  and  in  the  countries 
north  of  the  Alps.  The  celebrated  monastery  of  St. 
Gall  possessed  a  school  of  painters,  who  were  distin- 
guished even  in  the  ninth  century.  In  the  tenth 
century,  Tutilo,  a  member  of  this  community,  was 
equally  famous  as  a  painter,  poet,  musician,  sculptor, 
and  statuary.  But  the  best  miniature  painter  of  the 
tenth  century  was  Godemann,  who  was  chaplain  of  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester  from  a.d.  963  to  984,  and  after- 
wards Abbot  of  Thornley.  His  benedictional,  orna- 
mented with  thirty  beautiful  miniatures,  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire.  In  the  eleventh 
century  schools  of  painting  were  formed  at  Hildesheim 
and  Paderborn ;  and  the  art  was  exercised  by  ecclesi- 
astics of  the  highest  rank.'  The  reputation  of  the 
French  miniature  painters  had  reached  Italy  in  the 
time  of  Dante,  who  alludes  to  the  practice  of  the  art 

*^  Ch*  alluminare  h  chiamato  in  Parigi," 

while  recording  the  merit  of  Oderigi  da  Gubbio  and 
Franco  Bolognese.  Many  artists  who  followed  this 
branch  of  the  profession  are  enumerated  by  Alcherius  in 
the  work  of  Le  Begue.  Some  of  these  were  natives  of 
Italy,  others  of  France,  and  others  of  Flanders.  The 
Italian  miniature  painters  are  numerous.     Among  the 

1  Compendio  Storico  Critico  sopra  le  due  Immagine  di  Maria  S.  S.  nella 
Chicaa  di  Sta.  Maria  del  Sasso,  presso  Bibbiena,  dato  in  luce  dal  P.  Vin- 
cenzo  Fineachi,  Firenze,  1792,  cap.  z.  p.  72 ;  cited  by  Marchese,  vol.  i. 

p.  209. 

>  See  Rio,  de  la  Fo6sie  Chrdtienne,  p.  32-34. 

VOL.  I.  C 


XXXiv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  n. 

most  celebrated  miniatori  of  the  fifteenth  century  was 
Francesco  dai  Libri,  a  native  of  Verona,  called  the  Old^ 
to  distinguish  him  from  his  son  Girolamo.    He  obtained 
the  appellation    ^'  dai  Libri "  from  his  employment, 
which  consisted  in  illuminating  MSS. ;  and,  as  he  lived 
before  the  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing,  he  found 
constant  occupation,  because  those  persons  who  paid 
the  expense  of  the  writing,  which  was  very  great,  were 
also   desirous  of  seeing  their  books  ornamented  with 
miniatures.     Francesco  lived  to  a  great  age,  and  died 
contented  and  happy,  because,  says  Yasari,  '^  in  addi- 
tion to  the  peace  of  mind  which  he  derived  from  his 
own  vfrtues,  he  left  a  son  who  was  a  better  painter  than 
himself.''     This  son  was  Girolamo  dai  Libri,  whose 
merits  as  a  miniature  painter  fully  equalled  the  sanguine 
expectations   of  his  father.     Yasari   is   warm   in   his 
praises.    He  says.  «  Girolamo  painted  flowers  with  such 
skill,  truth,  and  beauty,  that  they  appeared  like  nature 
itself;  and  he  imitated  small  cameos  and  other  engraved 
stones  and  jewels  in  such  a  manner  that  it  was  impos- 
sible  to  make  them  more  like,  or  more  minute ;  and 
among  the  figures  which  he  made  on  cameos  and  facti- 
tious stones,  may  be  seen  some  which  are  not  lai^er 
than  a  small  ant,  yet  all  their  limbs  and  muscles  are 
seen  distinctly."     Girolamo  illuminated   many  books 
for  religious  societies,  and  especially  for  the  rich  monas- 
tery of  the  Canons  Regular  of  S.  Salvatore,  at  Catti- 
diani,  where  he  went  to  work  in  person,  which  he  would 
not  do  at  any  other  place ;  whilst  at  this  monastery  he 
taught  the  first  principles  of  the  art  to   Don  Giulio 
Clovio,   who  was  afterwards  reputed   to   be  the  best 
miniature  painter  of  his  time.'  Lanzi  calls  him  the  prince 
of  miniature  painters.     Great  part  of  his  works  were 
painted  for  sovereigns  and  princes,  in  whose  libraries 
they  may  be  seen,  executed  with  such  surprising  truth 

1  Yasari,  Vita  di  Fra  Giocondo  ed  Altn,  vol.  iii. 


CHAP,  n.]  MINIATURE  PAINTING.  XXXV 

and  liveliness,  that  they  appear  rather  to  be  reflections 
in  a  camera  obscura  than  works  of  art.  Some  idea  of 
the  labour  of  executing  these  minute  pictures  may  be 
formed  from  the  fact,  that  one  work  alone,  which  he 
illustrated  for  Cardinal  Farnese,  with  twenty-six  sub- 
jects, occupied  him  during  nine  years.  His  works  are 
very  scarce,  but  some  may  be  found  in  the  libraries  of 
private  individuals.  The  Sloane  Library  contains  a 
MS.  illuminated  by  Don  Giulio  Clovio. 

Among  the  miniature  painters  of  the  order  of  St. 
Dominic  was  P.  Alessandro  della  Spina,  who  flourished 
during  the  fourteenth  century.  Padre  Alessandro 
deserves  the  gratitude  of  posterity,  and  of  all  miniature 
painters  especially;  for  to  him  we  are  indebted  for 
making  known  the  invention  and  use  of  spectacles. 
Indeed  P.  Marchese  attributes  the  invention  *  of  spec- 
tacles to  Padre  Alessandro,  but  the  memorial  of  him 
in  the  Chronicle  of  St  Katherine,  at  Pisa,  proves  that 
he  had  seen  spectacles  made  by  one  who  would  not 
communicate  the  secret,  before  he  made  them  himself, 
and  that  with  a  cheerful  and  willing  heart  he  com- 
municated aU  he'  knew.  The  notice  in  the  Chronicle 
runs  thus : — 

'*  Fra  Alexander  de  Spina  vir  modestus  et  bonus, 
quae  vidit  oculis  facta  scivit  et  facere.  Ocularia  ab  alio 
primo  facta  comunicare  nolente,  ipse  fecit,  et  omnibus 
comunicavit  corde  hilari  et  volente.  Cantare,  scribere, 
miniare,  et  omnia  scivit  quae  manus  mechanics  valent"  * 

Another  monk  and  miniature  painter  of  the  same 
order,  Fra  Benedetto,  usually  called  "  Bettuccio," 
deserves  remembrance  for  his  brave  defence  of  Giro- 

1  **Spectac1e8  had  been  known  at  Haarlem  since  the  beginning  of  the 
14th  century,  and  a  monument  in  the  church  of  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore,  at 
Florence,  alludes  to  Sal  vino  dcgli  Armati,  who  died  in  1317,  as  their  in- 
?entor  (inventore  degli  occhiali).  Some  accurate  notices  of  the  use  of  spec- 
tacles by  old  men  appear  to  have  been  made  in  1299  and  1306."  Hum- 
boldt's Ko«moSy  vol.  ii.  p.  497. — Is  it  possible  that  Padre  Marchese  can  have 
overlooked  the  monument  alluded  to  by  the  accurate  and  scientific  Hum- 
boldt? *  Mcmorie  de'  Pittori,  &c.  Domenicani,  vol.  i.  p.  177. 

C  2 


XXXVl  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ii. 

lame  Savonarola,  when  the  latter  was  torn  from  the 
shelter  of  his  convent  of  S.  Marco,  at  Florence,  to 
meet  a  cruel  and  painful  death.  Fra  Pacifico  Burla- 
macchi,  in  his  Life  of  Savonarola,  relates  that  "  Fra 
Benedetto  armed  himself  from  head  to  foot,  and  joined 
the  party  of  the  Piagnoni,^  to  defend  a  life  so  dear  to 
him ;  but  Savonarola  seeing  him,  desired  him  to  lay 
down  his  arms,  adding  that  the  professors  of  religion 
should  use  spiritual  weapons  only.  When  Benedetto 
saw  them  carrying  away  his  beloved  master  to  prison, 
he  entreated  to  be  allowed  to  follow  him.  Then  Savo- 
narola, turning  round  to  him,  said,  *  Brother  Bene- 
detto, I  command  you  by  your  vow  of  obedience  not  to 
follow  me,  because  Brother  Domenico  and  I  must  die 
for  the  love  of  Christ'  At  this  instant  he  was  torn 
from  the  sight  of  his  sons,  who  all  wept  for  him.  And 
it  was  then  the  ninth  hour  of  the  night"  * 

Fra  Eustachio,  another  Dominican  monk,  was,  per- 
haps, one  of  the  greatest  miniature  painters  that  Italy 
has  produced.*  His  merits,  passed  over  by  historians, 
and  especially  by  Vasari,  whom  gratitude  should  have 
prompted  to  remember  him,  are  recorded  by  his  own 
order.  Padre  Timoteo  Bottonio,*  a  contemporary  of 
Fra  Eustachio,  relates  that  when  Vasari  was  writing  the 
first  edition  of  his  Lives  of  the  Painters,  he  used  to 
come  frequently  to  converse  with  this  old  man,  who  re- 
lated to  him  many  interesting  facts  concerning  the  early 
and  illustrious  artists.  A  Psalter,  exquisitely  painted  by 
him,  still  exists  in  the  Convent  of  S.  Marco,  at  Florence. 
He  has  been  styled  the  Porta  of  miniature  painting. 

The  French  miniature  painters  were  undoubtedly 
numerous,  but  a  Vasari  is  still  wanting  to  record  their 
merits.  The  beautiful  choral  book,  painted  by  Daniel 
d'Aubonne,  in  1621,  must  not  be  forgotten.  This  volume 

I  The  partisans  of  Savonarola. 
2  See  Marchese,  Memorie,  &c.,  vol.  i.  p.  199.         ^  Ibid.,  p.  202-207. 

4  Annale  MSS.,  vol.  ii.  p.  80d,  ann.  1555. 


CHAP,  n.]  MINIATURE  PAINTING.  XXXVU 

is  preserved  in  the  public  library  at  Rouen ;  it  is  of  very 
large  size^  and  the  writing  and  illuminations  are  exqui- 
sitely beautiful.  Daniel  was  thirty  years  in  completing  it. 

Missals  and  livres  d'heures  of  great  beauty  are  so 
common  in  all  rich  libraries,  that  it  is  unnecessary  to 
particularise  any  in  the  present  work. 

As  a  private  collection,  perhaps  there  is  no  single 
volume  of  greater  beauty  or  value  than  that  belonging 
to  Mr.  Rogers  the  poet,  whose  elegant  and  correct  taste 
is  well  known.  The  volume,  formed  at  great  expense, 
consists  of  miniatures  from  different  works  and  dif- 
ferent countries ;  and  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  see  more 
exquisite  specimens  of  the  art 

The  manner  in  which  these  works  were  executed 
may  be  collected  from  the  following  Treatises:  it  is 
su£Scient  to  observe  that  the  colours  were  prepared  with 
the  greatest  care,  and  that  the  vehicle  was  egg,  gum,  or 
glue.  D'Agincourt,  however,  mentions  some  minia- 
tures, the  colours  of  which  were  insoluble  in  water; 
and  Dr.  Dibdin,^  in  describing  the  illuminations  of  a 
MS.  of  the  Codex  Justinianus  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, states  that  on  close  examination  the  colours  appear 
to  have  been  mixed  up  with  a  glossy  material  not  unlike 
oil.  These  instances  appear  to  have  been  exceptions  to 
the  general  character  of  miniatures,  the  surface  of  which 
usually  does  not  shine.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  shades 
in  miniatures  were  not  generally  painted  with  trans- 
parent colours,  but  that  white  was  mixed  with  them. 

The  parchment  or  paper  on  which  these  MSS.  were 
written  was  usually  left  white ;  but  a  purple  colour  was 
sometimes  communicated  to  it,  by  tinging  it  with  a 
decoction  of  oricello.'  When  the  tint  was  dry,  the 
letters  were  written  on  it  with  gold  or  silver.  Several 
MSS.  of  this  kind  are  preserved  in  the  Bibliothdque 
Royale  at  Paris. 


1  Northern  Tour,  p.  60S.  »  See  Dol.  MS.,  p.  474. 


XXXVni  INTKODUCTION.  [chap.  hi. 


CHAPTER  III. 

MOSAICS   AKD  TARSIA  WORK. 

In  enumerating  the  arts  of  the  middle  ages,  we  must 
not  omit  to  mention  the  beautiful  art  of  working  in 
mosaic,  the  most  durable  of  all  the  methods  of  painting 
now  in  existence.  Domenico  Ghirlandaio  used  to  say 
that  it  was  the  only  painting  for  eternity.^  Vasari  also 
has  a  similar  remark;  he  says,  with  regard  to  the 
durability  of  all  works  composed  of  colours,  there  are 
none  which  resist  the  action  of  the  winds  and  waters 
like  mosaics.' 

The  art  of  working  in  mosaic  was  known  to  the 
ancients.  It  was  practised  by  the  Byzantine  Greeks, 
and  appears  never  to  have  been  entirely  lost  in  Italy. 
Specimens  of  this  art  may  still  be  seen  at  Rome  and 
at  Ravenna,  which  date  from  the  fourth  and  fifth  cen- 
turies. 

There  were  various  kinds  of  mosaics.'  Those  in- 
tended for  the  decoration  of  vaulted  ceilings  and  other 
elevated  parts  of  buildings,  consisted  of  cubes  of  coloured 
glass,  the  older  specimens  being  generally  inlaid  either 
on  a  white  ground,  as  in  the  Romano-Christian  school,^ 
or  on  a  gold  ground,  as  in  the  early  Christian  mosaics 
of  the  Byzantine  school.  The  mosaics  in  the  church  of 
SS.  Cosmo  and  Damiano  in  the  Forum  at  Rome 
were  the  work  of  Roman  artists,  while  the  old  mosaics 


1  Vasari,  Life  of  Domenico  Ghirlandaio. 
*  LifeofGherardo. 

3  For  an  account  of  the  different  kinds  of  mosaic,  and  of  the  process 
employed  at  Rome,  sec  Transactions  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  Part  I.,  New 
Series,  1847. 

4  Rio,  dc  la  Podiie  Chr^tienne,  p.  41. 


CHAF.  m.]  MOSAIC  PAINTING.  XXXlX 

in  the  Apsis  *  of  the  Basilica  of  S.  Ambrogio,  at  Milan, 
which  are  said  to  be  not  later  than  the  ninth  century ; 
those  in  S.  Lorenzo,  also  in  Milan ;  those  in  the  Duomo 
of  Torcello,  reputed  to  be  of  the  tenth  century ;  and 
some  of  the  ancient  mosaics  in  the  church  of  S.  Marco, 
at  Venice,  which  are  of  the  eleventh  century,  are  re- 
presented to  be  the  work  of  Byzantine  artists.  Some  of 
the  mosaics  in  the  last-mentioned  edifice  are  stated  to 
have  been  actually  brought  from  the  East 

It  appears  that  there  were  in  Italy  two  principal 
schools  of  mosaic  painting,  established  as  early  as  the 
eleventh  century.  One  of  these  was  formed  by  the 
Greek  artists  employed  on  the  church  of  S.  Mark,  at 
Venice,  from  which  the  Florentine  school  afterwards 
sprung;  the  other  subsisted  in  Rome,  from  an  early 
period  until  the  thirteenth  century.*  Both  schools  have 
been  praised  by  different  authors  as  superior  to  all 
others ;  Vasari  gives  the  preference  to  that  of  Venice, 
while  Lanzi  considers  that  the  Roman  artists  excelled 
Ae  Venetians.  The  Venetian  school  undoubtedly 
originated  in  the  decoration  of  the  church  of  S.  Mark, 
which  afforded  for  several  centuries  constant  occupation 
to  the  musaicisti.  This  church,  observes  Lanzi,  was  and 
is  an  incomparable  museum,  in  which,  commencing 
from  the  eleventh  century,  may  be  traced,  in  the  mosaics 
begun  by  the  Greeks  and  continued  by  the  Italians,  the 
gradual  progress  of  design  of  every  period  until  the 
present  day. 

The  earliest  artists  were  undoubtedly  Greeks,  and 
the  work  appears  to  have  been  continued  by  Greek 
artists  and  their  disciples  until  about  1250.  From  that 
time  until  1350,  Zanetti  states'  that  he  was  unable  to 
find  any  records  of  the  progress  of  the  work ;  but  at  the 

I  The  Ajm»  was  ako  called  the  Tribune,  It  was  the  semicircular  recess 
at  the  east  end  of  the  church.  '  Lanzi,  vol.  i.  p.  6  n. 

<  Notide  de*  Musaici  della  Chiesa  Ducale  di  S.  Marco— Zanetti,  delta 
Pittara  Veneziaaa,  p.  661. 


xl  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  hi. 

last  date  the  d(^e  Andrea  Dandolo  caused  the  chapel 
of  the  Baptistery  to  be  covered  with  mosaics.  The 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  produced  many  artists, 
the  best  of  whom  was  Michele  Zamboni,  who  was  the 
first  to  abandon  the  ancient  manner,  and  to  improve 
his  design,  by  studying  the  works  of  the  best  painters 
of  his  time.  Many  of  the  ancient  mosaics  having 
perished,  they  were  replaced  by  Zamboni,  according  to 
the  old  design.  The  sixteenth  century  was  the  golden 
age  of  mosaic  painting  at  Venice.  Among  the  great 
names  of  the  period  may  be  enumerated  Vincente 
Bianchini,  more  remarkable  for  his  talents  than  his  in- 
tegrity, and  his  brother  Domenico,  called  II  Rosso  or 
Rosetto;  Alberto  Zio,  the  priest;  Marco  Luciano 
Kiaszo ;  the  celebrated  Francesco  Zuccato,  the  friend  of 
Titian,  who  received  his  first  instructions  in  painting 
from  the  father  of  Zuccato ;  Yalerio  Zuccato,  the  brother 
of  Francesco ;  and  Giovanni  Visentin. 

The  distinctions  enjoyed  by  the  brothers  Zuccati 
excited  the  envy  of  the  other  artists,  and  when  the 
former  had  completed  the  pictures  from  the  Apocalypse, 
the  quarrels  among  the  rival  painters  ran  so  high,  that 
they  reached  the  ears  of  the  Procuratore  Cassiere.  A 
process  was  instituted  to  discover  the  truth.  The  Zuc- 
cati were  accused,  among  other  things,  of  having  added 
to  the  efiect  of  their  mosaics  by  painting  on  certain 
parts,  and  of  having  joined  the  squares  badly ;  Yalerio 
especially  was  accused  of  not  knowing  his  business. 
Among  the  most  violent  of  the  accusers  was  Bartolom- 
meo  Bozzo,  a  former  pupil  of  the  Zuccati,  who  pointed 
out  some  small  campanili,  and  also  some  clouds  in  the 
mosaic  of  the  Apocalypse,  which  were  executed  with  the 
pencil,  and  not  with  coloured  glass  and  stones,  as  they 
ought  to  have  been,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  Pro- 
curatori.  The  Bianchini  supported  the  accusation  of 
Bozzo,  and  an  accidental  circumstance  gave  additional 
weight  to  the  charge  against  the  Zuccati.     A  mistake 


-zr. 


CHAP.  MI.]  MOSAIC  PAINTING.  xli 

having  been  discovered  by  the  latter  in  the  word  saanhus, 
which  formed  part  of  the  inscription,  they  had  corrected 
the  error  by  affixing  to  it  a  small  piece  of  painted  paper ; 
and  when  the  mosaic  was  washed  to  ascertain  whether 
it  had  been  painted  or  not,  the  piece  of  paper  was  sepa- 
rated, and  the  Frocuratore  believed  accordingly  that  some 
deception  had  been  used.  He  therefore  caused  several 
persons  employed  in  the  church  to  inquire  into  the 
afhiTj  and  finally  he  summoned  a  council  of  the  greatest 
painters  of  that  time,  among  whom  were  Titian,  Paolo 
Veronese,  Tintoretto,  and  Andrea  Schiavone,  who  de- 
cided that  it  could  not  be  denied  '^  that  the  pencil  had 
been  used  in  some  parts,  but  that  when  these  touches  had 
been  removed  with  a  sponge  and  sand,  the  mosaics  were  not 
injured  by  it,  but  were  even  considered  to  be  improved." 
Every  one  praised  the  design,  and  the  skill  of  the  artists, 
and  Titian,  especially,  defended  his  friends  the  Zuccati 
with  great  warmth,  saying  that  the  cartoons  ought  to  be 
examiped,  to  see  whether  the  campanili  which  had  been 
painted  were  in  them  as  well  as  in  the  mosaics  ;  thinking 
that  the  degree  of  blame  attached  to  these  masters 
depended  upon  this  circumstance.  It  is  doubtful  who 
made  the  cartoons;  Valerio  asserted  that  they  were 
made  by  ^^  Messer  Tiziano,"  and  that  they  did  not  con- 
tain the  campanili,  and  said  that  if  it  were  necessary  he 
would  produce  them  with  the  outlines  pricked,  as  they 
were.  Titian,  however,  did  not  acknowledge  that  these 
cartoons  were  his  work,  although  he  owned  having  made 
others  for  the  Zuccati.  The  trial  concluded  by  the 
Zuccati  being  adjudged  to  execute  again,  at  their  own 
expense,  the  parts  on  which  the  pencil  had  been  em- 
ployed; but  this  decree  was  never  executed,  and  the 
painted  parts,  particularly  the  small  campanili,  remain 
to  this  day.^ 

The  dispute  concerning  the  execution  of  this  mosaic 

1  Zanetti,  p.  676. 


xlii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ni. 

by  the  Zuccati  led  to  the  examination  of  the  other 
pictures,  which  had  been  the  work  of  their  rivals ;  and 
it  was  finally  concluded  unanimously,  that  the  two  Bian- 
chini  and  Bozzo  were  the  best  workers  in  mosaic,  but 
that  Francesco  Zuccato  excelled  them  all  in  the  know- 
ledge of  the  art,  and  next  to  him  in  skill  was  Yincente 
Bianchini. 

The  designs  for  the  mosaics  executed  about  this 
period  were  by  the  most  celebrated  painters,  Titian, 
Tintoretto,  Salviati,  Sansovino,  Domenico  Tintoretto, 
Maifeo  Verona,  and  others;  and  many  of  the  mu- 
saicisti  were  so  little  acquainted  with  the  principles  of 
art,  that  the  painters  who  made  the  designs  were  obliged 
to  colour  as  well  as  draw  them,  and  they  were  then 
servilely  copied  by  the  musaicisti.  The  Frocuratori 
being  satisfied  by  the  representations  of  the  professors 
of  the  bad  consequences  likely  to  ensue  from  the  ig^ 
norance  of  the  musaicisti,  new  regulations  were  made, 
the  number  of  masters  employed  in  St.  Mark's 
was  reduced,  and  every  one  was  require^!,  before  his 
election,  to  give  a  proof  of  his  skill.  In  order  to  de- 
termine the  respective  merits  of  the  rival  artists,  a  design 
representing  S.  Jerome  was  made,  and  Francesco  Zuc- 
cato, the  two  Bianchini,  and  Bozzo  were  required  to 
copy  it  in  mosaic.  Sansovino,  Titian,  and  Faolo  Vero- 
nese were  the  judges,  and  it  was  agreed  unanimously 
that  Zuccato's  picture  was  the  best,  Gian  Antonio 
Bianchini's  was  next,  then  that  of  Bozzo,  and  Domenico 
Bianchini's  was  the  last,  although  it  was  considered  the 
most  faithful  copy  of  the  design. 

Among  the  later  Venetian  artists  may  be  enumerated 
Gio.  Antonio  Marini,  Lorenzo  Ceccato,  Luigi  Gaetano, 
Jacopo  Pasterini,  and  Francesco  Turessio ;  these  worked 
from  the  designs  of  Falma  Giovane,  of  Maffeo  Verona, 
of  Leandro  Bassano,  Aliense,  Fadovanino^  and  others. 
The  artistsoftheseventeeuth  century  were  less  celebrated, 
and  their  works  in  mosaic  executed  in  the  style  of  that 


CHAP.  III.]  MOSAIC  PAINTING.  xHii 

period  were  employed  as  decorations  on  new  walls  only ; 
according  to  Zanetti,*  it  was  decreed  in  the  year  1610, 
that  no  ancient  mosaic  should  be  removed,  although  the 
work  might  be  Greek,  and  the  style  bad;  but  that 
where  the  danger  of  ruin  was  imminent,  the  design 
should  be  copied,  and  the  picture  restored  exactly  as  it 
was  at  first.  By  this  means  a  complete  series  of  monu- 
ments, unique  in  their  kind,  not  only  in  Italy,  but  in^ 
all  the  world,  has  been  preserved  to  posterity. 

In  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  fame  of 
the  Greek  artists,  who  were  still  employed  on  the 
mosaic  decorations  of  St.  Mark's,  was  spread  far  and 
wide ;  it  reached  to  Florence,  where  Andrea  Tafi  then 
practised  the  art  of  painting.  Andrea,  ambitious  of 
transmitting  his  name  to  posterity,  and  having  greater 
confidence  in  the  durability  of  the  materials  than  in  his 
own  talents,  prudently  determined  to  adopt  the  art  of 
mosaic  painting ;  but  as  the  technical  part  of  this  art 
was  unknown  in  the  north  of  Italy,  he  found  it  necessary 
to  go  to  Venice.  While  residing  in  this  city,  he  gained 
the  good  will  of  a  Greek  painter  named  ApoUonio  so 
entirely,  that  he  was  persuaded  not  only  to  teach  him 
the  art,  but  to  accompany  him  to  Florence,  where,  in 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  he  executed,  in 
conjunction  with  Andrea  Tafi,  some  mosaics  in  the 
Tribune  of  the  old  church  of  S.  Giovanni.*  Vasari' 
says  that  this  work  was  entirely  in  the  Greek  manner, 
that  the  design  was  rude  and  without  skill,  but  that  the 
mechanical  part  was  well  executed,  the  pieces  extremely 
well  joined,  and  the  surface  even.*  He  adds,  that  the 
latter  part  of  the  work  is  much  better,  or  to  speak  more 
correctly,  not  so  bad  as  the  portions  first  completed. 
After  this,  Andrea  executed  in  mosaic,  without  the 
assistance  of  Apollonio,  a  figure  of  Christ  14  feet  high, 

1  Delia  Pittura  Veneziana,  p.  670  n. 
*  Now  the  Basilica  of  S.  Giovanni  Battista — the  Battistcro. 
3  Vttadi  Andr«a  Tafi.     «  See  also  Morrona,  Pisa  lUustrato,  vol.  i.  p.  £54. 


xliv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  m. 

a  work  which,  Yasari  says,  spread  his  fame  throughout 
Italy.  "Andrea  was  really,'*  observes  this  author,  "very 
happy  in  living  at  a  time  when  works  of  so  little  merit 
were  so  much  esteemed.'*  It  may  be  added,  that  he 
was  fortunate  in  forming  so  correct  an  estimate  of  his 
own  powers,  as  to  prefer  being  the  head  of  a  new  school 
of  painting  in  the  north  of  Italy,  to  remaining  in  the 
obscurity  to  which  his  want  of  skill  in  design  appeared 
to  consign  him.  Andrea  died  in  1294,  and  his  merits 
were  recorded  in  an  epitaph  preserved  by  Vasari — 


'<  Qui  giace  Andrea,  ch'  opre  leggiadre,  e  belle 
Fece  in  tutta  Toscana,  ed  ora  e  ito 
A  &LT  vago  lo  Regno  delle  stelle." 

Contemporary  with  Andrea  was  Jacopo  da  Turrita,* 
or,  as  he  was  called  in  Siena,  Maestro  Mino,*  a  Fran- 
ciscan friar,  to  whose  merits  Lanzi  says  that  Yasari  did 
not  do  justice.  Perhaps  the  latter  judged  from  the 
specimens  of  the  works  of  Jacopo  at  Florence,  which 
were  by  no  means  equal  to  those  conducted  by  him  in 
Sta.  Maria  Maggiore  at  Rome.  Some  writers  have 
believed  that  Fra  Mino  and  Tafi  both  worked  in 
mosaic  in  the  Tribune  of  the  Duomo  of  Pisa,  but 
Prof.  Ciampi  has  shown  that  this  mosaic  was  not  begun 
until  1301,  at  which  time  Fra  Mino  and  Tafi  were 
no  longer  living.  The  mosaic  at  Pisa,  the  subject  of 
which  was  a  Maesta,  was  commenced  by  one  Maestro 
Francesco,'  assisted  by  his  son  Yittorio,  Lapo  of 
Florence,  Michele,  Duccio,  Tura,  Turetto,  Dato, 
Tano,  and  others.  Francesco  either  died  or  aban- 
doned the  work  the  same  year,  and  was  succeeded  as 
Capo  Maestro  by  Cimabue,*  under  whom  worked 
Bardo,  Ganaccio,  Upechino,  and  Turetto.  The 
S.  Giovanni,  on  the  left  hand  of  the  Saviour  in  the 

J  Vasari,  Vita  di  Andrea  Tafi.     Baldinucci,  Vite. 

*  Morrona,  Pisa  Illust.,  vol.  i.  p.  '247. 

3  Ciampi,  Notizic,  &c.|  p.  144,  and  Docum.  xxv.        *  Ibid.,  Doc.  zzvi. 


CHAP,  mj  MOSAIC  PAINTING.  xlv 

same  design,  is  said  to  be  the  work  of  Cimabue,  who 
however  left  it  incomplete ;  and  it  was,  together  with 
the  figure  of  the  Saviour,  finished  by  Vicino,  the  pupil 
of  Gaddo  Gaddi,  in  132 1.  As  this  is  the  only  work  in 
mosaic  ascribed  to  Cimabue,  it  has  been  supposed  by 
some  persons  that  he  merely  executed  the  design. 
The  repeated  payments,  however,  to  him,  on  account 
of  this  work,^  in  the  books  of  the  Duomo,  seem  to 
warrant  the  belief  that  he  actually  worked  on  the 
mosaic.  Giotto  also  exercised  his  talents  in  mosaic 
painting,  and  the  celebrated  mosaic  called  the  ^^  Nave 
di  Giotto,'*  which  was  executed  for  the  ancient  basilica 
of  St  Peter  at  Bome,  attests  his  eminence  in  this 
branch  of  the  art*  This  work,  observes  D'Agincourt, 
**  by  its  ingenious  and  picturesque  composition,  as  well 
as  by  a  more  correct  design,  fixes  the  epoch  of  the 
revival  of  this  kind  of  painting.'*  Kugler  says '  that 
the  mosaic  has  so  frequently  changed  its  place,  and  thus 
undergone  so  many  restorations,  that  the  composition 
only  can  now  be  considered  as  belonging  to  Giotto. 

Gaddo  Gaddi  was  the  father  of  Taddeo  Gaddi,^  and 
the  grandfather  of  Agnolo,  the  master  of  Cennino 
Cennini.^  He  was  the  friend  of  Cimabue  and  of 
Andrea  Tafi ;  .  from  the  example  of  the  former  he 
learned  to  improve  his  style  of  design,  and  from  the 
latter  he  acquired  the  art  of  working  in  mosaic.  As 
he  united  the  mechanical  skill  of  Andrea  to  a  better 
taste  in  design,  it  will  readily  be  supposed  that  his 
works  were  in  much  request  He  executed,  in  the 
semicircle  over  the  principal  door  in  Sta.  Maria  del 
Fiore  in  Florence,  the  mosaic  representing  the  Corona- 
tion of  the  Virgin,  which,  on  the  authority  of  Vasari, 

1  Ciampi,  Notizie,  &c.,  Doc.  xxvi. ;   Morrona,   I^isa  Illust.,  vol.  i.  p. 
249  n. ;  and  see  Kugler,  Handbook  of  Painting  in  Italy,  p.  32. 
*  Vasari,  Int,  cap.  xxix. 
s  Handbook  of  Painting,  Italian  School,  p.  51. 
4  Vasari,  Vite  di  Gaddo,  Taddeo,  e  Agnolo  Gaddi. 
ft  Cennino  Cennini,  Trattato. 


xlvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  hi. 

was  considered  by  all  masters,  foreign  as  well  as  native, 
as  the  finest  work  of  the  kind  which  had  ever  been  seen 
in  Italy.  He  afterwards  worked  at  Rome  and  at  Pisa, 
and  died  in  1312. 

The  secret  of  working  in  mosaic  was  inherited  by 
Agnolo,  the  son  of  Taddeo,^  who  in  1346  repaired  some 
of  the  mosaics  executed  by  Andrea  Tafi  in  the  roof  of 
S.  Giovanni  at  Florence.  He  fixed  the  cubes  of  glass 
so  firmly  into  the  ground,  with  a  stucco  composed  of 
mastic'  and  wax  melted  together,  that  neither  the  roof 
nor  the  vaulting  had  received  any  injury  from  water 
from  the  period  of  its  completion  until  the  time  of 
Yasari.  From  Agnolo  Gaddi  the  secrets  of  the  art 
were  transmitted  to  Cennino  Cennini,  who,  in  his 
Treatise  on  Painting,  lefl  them  as  an  heir-loom  to 
posterity.  That  Cennini  actually  treated  on  mosaics  in 
his  work,  is  related  by  Vasari  f  but  as  this  subject  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  MS.  published  by  Tambroni,  it  was 
considered  that  Vasari  was  mistaken,  and  that  he  had 
spoken  of  the  MS.  without  having  read  it.  Subsequent 
researches,*  however,  have  proved  that  he  was  right 
Besides  the  MS.  in  the  Laurenziana,  the  Biccardiana 
Library  (at  Florence)  contains  a  more  perfect  copy 
made  in  the  sixteenth  century,  probably  soon  afler  the 
year  1500,  which  contains  many  things  omitted  in  the 
Vatican  MS.,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  arts 
of  working  in  glass  and  in  mosaic. 

It  is  gratifying  to  learn  that  a  second  edition  of  this 
highly  interesting  work  will  probably  be  published  at 
Florence,  which  will  contain  the  new  passages  in  the 
MS.  of  the  Biccardiana,  and  which  will  be  collated 
with  both  the  Florentine  MSS.  It  has  been  con- 
jectured from  the  last  words  of  the  MS.  of  Cennini  in 

t  Vasari,  Vita  di  Agnolo  Gaddi ;  Bald.,  Vitadi  Agnolo  Gaddi. 
s  Bald.,  Vita  di  Agnolo  Gaddi.     Vasari  says  **  mastrice,*'  which  signiBes 
cement  or  glue. 

8  Vita  di  Agnolo  Gaddi.  4  Antologia— Firenze,  1821. 


CHAP.  iiiO  MOSAIC  PAINTING.  xlvii 

the  Vatican,  "Finito  libro  referamus  gratia  Christi 
1437  a  di  31  di  luglio.  Ex  stincarum  f.,"'  that 
Cennini  was  an  inmate  of  the  debtors'  prison  at 
Florence  called  "Le  Stinche,"  and  our  sympathies 
were  excited  on  behalf  of  the  patient  and  religious  old 
man,  who  at  an  age  approaching  to  eighty  could  so 
abstract  his  mind  from  the  adversity  into  which  he  had 
fallen,  as  to  compose  his  Treatise  on  Painting  during 
his  confinement  in  a  prison,  and  to  allow  no  expressions 
of  regret  or  discontent  to  escape  from  his  pen.  The 
researches,  however,  of  Signor  Benci  of  Florence 
prove  that  the  name  of  Cennini  does  not  occur  in  the 
books  belonging  to  the  prison  of  the  Stinche  in  the 
year  1437,  or  in  some  of  the  later  years  of  the  four- 
teenth  century.  The  addition  of  the  above-mentioned 
wrords  has  been  accounted  for '  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
the  custom  to  employ  the  prisoners  for  debt  in  copying 
MSS.;  and  it  was  conjectured  that  these  words,  so 
expressive  of  the  distaste  we  may  suppose  a  person 
indifierent  to  the  art  to  have  felt  on  the  completion  of, 
to  him,  so  irksome  a  task,  were  added  by  the  unfor- 
tunate prisoner  who  copied  the  MS.  afterwards  placed 
in  the  Vatican.  If  then  the  date  1437  be  that  of  the 
copy,  the  original  MS.  must  be  older,  and  perhaps  may 
be  actually  a  work  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

Many,  if  not  all,  of  the  early  Florentine  painters 
practised  this  branch  of  the  art.'  It  is  said^  that 
Alesso  Baldovinetto  spared  no  pains  to  discover  the 
best  mediod  of  working  in  mosaic,  and  that  he  would 
never  have  succeeded  in  this  pursuit,  if  he  had  not 

1  These  words  are  wanting  in  the  Riccardiana  MS.  See  Antologia — 
Firenze,  1821. 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  1847,  p.  193. 

s  Prof.  Ciampi  (NotiEie,  &c.,  p.  92)  says  theJIituaicisH  called  themselves 
painterSf  and  he  quotes  the  inscription  on  the  mosaic  by  Tomti  (or  Turrita) 
in  the  church  of  S.  Giovanni  Laterani  at  Rome :— **  Jacobus  Torriti  pictor 
hoc  opus  mosaycen  fecit." 

4  VaMri,  Vita  di  Alesso  Baldovinetto. 


xlviii  INTBODUCTION.  [craf,  hi. 

accidentally  met  with  a  German  who  was  travelling 
through  Florence  on  his  way  to  Rome.  Alesso  gave 
this  man  a  lodging,  and  learned  from  him  the  whole 
process,  so  that  he  was  enabled  to  set  to  work  with 
confidence,  and  to  execute  some  figures  in  mosaic  in 
the  church  of  S.  Giovanni.  This  work  so  increased  his 
reputation  that  he  was  employed  in  cleaning  the  whole 
roof  of  the  edifice,  which  had  been  covered  with  mosaics 
by  Andrea  Tafi,  and  was  then  in  want  of  repair.  He 
completed  this  work  also  to  the  satisfaction  of  his 
employers.  Alesso  lived  to  be  eighty  years  old,  and 
then  feeling  the  infirmities  of  age  stealing  over  him,  he 
sought  a  retreat  for  his  declining  years  in  the  Hospital 
of  S.  Paul.  It  is  related  that  in  order  to  ensure  for 
himself  a  better  reception,  he  took  with  him  to  his 
apartments  in  the  hospital  a  large  chest  which  was 
thought  to  contain  money,  and  in  this  belief  the  oflicers 
of  the  hospital  treated  him  with  the  greatest  respect 
and  attention.  But  their  disappointment  may  be 
imi^ined  when,  on  opening  the  chest,  after  the  decease 
of  the  aged  artist,  they  found  nothing  but  drawings  on 
paper,  and  a  small  book  which  taught  the  art  of  mak- 
ing the  mosaics  (pietre  del  musaico),  the  stucco,  and 
the  method  of  working.  At  the  present  time  we  should 
have  considered  this  little  book  a  greater  treasure  than 
the  money  which  was  so  much  desired.  The  remarks 
of  Vasari  on  this  occurrence  are  highly  honourable  to 
the  venerable  old  man ;  he  says,  "  It  was  no  wonder 
that  they  did  not  find  money,  for  Alesso  was  so  boun- 
tiful, that  everything  he  possessed  was  as  much  at  the 
service  of  his  friends  as  if  it  had  been  their  own." 

Alesso  taught  the  art  of  working  in  mosaic  to  Do- 
menico  Ghirlandaio,  who  executed,  in  conjunction  with 
Gherardo,  some  mosaics  in  the  Duomo  of  Florence/ 

The  only  artists  of  the  early  Roman  school  whose 

1  Vasari,  Vite  di  Alesso  Baldovinetto  e  Domenico  Ghirlandwo. 


CHAP.  Ill  J  MOSAIC  PAINTING.  xlix 

names  have  descended  to  posterity  are  the  family  of 
CosmatL^  Adeodati  di  Cosmo  Cosmati  worked  in 
Sta.  Maria  Ma^ore  in  1290,  two  years  after  the 
arrival  of  Giotto  in  Borne,  and  probably  about  the  time 
that  he  was  employed  upon  the  "  Navicella."  Jacopo 
and  Giovanni  Cosmati  also  worked  in  mosaic  about 
1299  in  Rome,  and  in  the  Duomo  of  Orvieto.  It  is 
said  that  these  artists  were  all  superior  to  the  Greeks 
employed  in  S.  Mark's  at  Venice.  It  is  certain,  how- 
ever, that  much  encouragement  was  given  at  Rome  to 
artists  from  other  parts  of  Italy,  and  especially  to  many 
Florentines.  This  city  was  in  fact  the  general  ren- 
dezvous of  all  who  were  distinguished  for  more  than 
ordinary  skill  in  the  arts,  as  the  place  where  they  might 
not  only  improve  themselves  in  their  profession  by  the 
contemplation  and  study  of  works  of  art,  but  where 
their  talents  might  meet  with  encouragement  and 
reward.  The  art  of  working  in  mosaic  was  brought  to 
perfection  in  this  city.  It  became  in  time  the  rival  of 
painting,  not  only  by  the  artful  combination  of  various 
coloured  stones  cemented  together,  but  by  means  of  a 
composition,  by  which  it  was  possible  to  produce  every 
colour,  to  emulate  every  half  tint,  to  represent  every 
gradation,  every  touch,  as  perfectly  as  with  the  pencil." 
As  the  building  of  S.  Mark's  at  Venice  called  forth  all 
the  talent  of  the  artists  of  that  period,  so  the  constnic- 
tion  and  decoration  of  S.  Peter's  at  Rome  occasioned 
employment  to  Roman  artists.  Natural  causes  con- 
curred in  promoting  the  cultivation  of  mosaic  painting 
at  Rome,  for  the  humidity  of  S.  Peter's  was  found 
inimical  to  paintings  in  oil,  and  it  was  considered 
advisable,  even  in  the  time  of  Urban  VIII.,'  to  sub- 
stitute mosaics  in  the  place  of  paintings  in  oil. 

The  Roman  school  in  mosaics  produced  Muziani, 

1  Lanzi,  vol.  i.  p.  6  n. ;  Ciampi,  Notizie,  &c.,  p.  46. 
s  Lanzi,  vol.  ii.  p.  2d0.  >  Ibid. 

VOL.  1.  d 


1  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ni. 

Paolo  Bossetti,  Marcello  Frovenzale,  6io.  Batt 
Calaiidra,  a  native  of  Vercelli,  by  whose  discoveries  the 
mechanical  part  of  the  art  was  greatly  improved,  and 
the  family  of  Fabio,  who  copied  in  mosaic  some  of  the 
works  of  GuercinOy  Domenichino,  and  Carlo  Maratta. 

The  earliest  document  known  which  gives  an  account 
of  any  of  the  processes  of  mosaic  painting,  is  the  Luoca 
MS. ;  but  this  merely  contains  some  recipes  for  colour- 
ing the  glass  of  which  the  work  was  composed.  These 
recipes  are  repeated  in  the  Mapp®  Clavicula.  The 
Bolognese  MS.  contains  directions  for  making  coloured 
glass,  and  '^  Materia  Musica ;"  and  the  subject  is  alluded 
to  by  Theophilus.  The  recipes  for  coloured  glass  in 
the  MS.  of  Eraclius  may  also  relate  to  mosaics. 
Neither  of  these  authorities,  however,  describe  the 
stucco  in  which  the  mosaic  was  embedded,  nor  do  they 
speak  of  any  cement  for  fastening  the  pieces  of  glass 
together.  The  omission  has,  however,  been  supplied 
by  Yasari,^  who  has  mentioned  the  materials  employed 
for  this  purpose. 

According  to  this  author  the  stucco,  which  would 
remain  in  a  state  fit  for  working  for  a  period  of  from 
two  to  four  days  according  to  the  weather,  was  com- 
posed of  lime,  pounded  brick,  gum  tragacanth,  and 
white  of  egg,  and  it  was  kept  moist  by  laying  wet  cloths 
upon  it  In  the  Life  of  Agnolo  Gaddi,  Yasari  mentions 
that  the  mosaics  of  Andrea  Tafi  in  S.  Giovanni  in 
Florence,  having  been  injured  by  the  penetration  of 
damp,  were  repaired  by  Agnolo,  who  employed  stucco 
made  of  mastrice  (or  mastic  according  to  Baldinucci) 
and  wax,  and  this  composition  efiectually  answered  the 
purpose  of  excluding  the  damp.  From  the  same 
account  it  also  appears  that  the  squares  were  deeply 
embedded  in  the  stucco  and  firmly  cemented  together. 
The  repairing  of  these  mosaics  also  gave  the  artists 
employed  on  the  work  an  opportunity  of  observing  that 


1  Intr.,  cap.  xiiz. 


CHAP.  lu.]  MOSAIC  PAINTING.  ^  K 

the  design  had  been  marked  out  on  the  stucco  with  red 
outlines,  and  that  it  had  been  entirely  worked  on  the 
stucco.  Prof.  Branchi  of  Pisa  thus  describes  the  ground 
in  which  the  before-mentioned  mosaics  in  the  Tribune  of 
the  Duomo  of  that  city  were  embedded : — "  The  cement 
or  bed  of  the  beautiful  mosaic  of  the  Tribune  of  the 
Duomo  of  Pisa  consists  of  two  thick  strata  one  upon 
the  other.  The  lower  stratum,  which  is  white,  tasteless, 
of  a  texture  apparently  homogeneous,  soluble  in  acids, 
with  liberation  of  carbonic  acid,  consisted  undoubtedly 
of  a  mixture  of  slaked  lime  and  marble  dust.  Having 
tested  the  weight  of  2  denari  (grammi  2-358)  with 
acetic  acid,  there  remained  only  silica  and  yellow  oxide 
of  iron,  weighing  ligr.  (grammi  0085).  The  superior 
stratum  in  which  the  parallelepipeds  of  coloured  glass 
were  embedded,  consisted  of  a  yellowish  mixture  some- 
what hard,  which  acquired  on  lighted  charcoal  a  colour 
that  was  first  grey  and  then  blackish.  The  same  acetic 
acid,  to  the  action  of  which  I  exposed  an  equal  quantity 
of  this  layer  as  of  the  lower,  dissolved  the  lime  with 
slight  ebullition,  and  left  12^  gr.  (grammi  0*613)  of  a 
substance  of  a  dark-yellow  colour,  which  I  found  was 
composed  of  linseed  oil  dried,  and  a  small  portion  of 
turpentine,  and  of  other  resinous  matter.  The  cement 
of  the  mosaics  of  the  cloisters  of  the  Basilica  of  S.  Paolo 
without  the  walls  at  Rome  was  composed  of  slaked 
lime  and  brickdust  more'  or  less  finely  pulverized.  It 
was  of  a  flesh  colour,  unalterable  by  fire  or  by  exposure 
to  the  sea  wind,  and  of  a  taste  slightly  saline.  By 
means  of  an  analysis,  sufficiently  accurate  for  the  pur- 
pose, I  found  in  the  same  quantity,  namely  2  denari, 
that  its  constituents  were  nearly  as  follows : — 

Dtaari.  Oraint.  Ommml. 

Carbonate  of  nme i        81    0'3&0 

Pulverized  bricka  deprived  by  acetic  add  of  their  cal- 

careoiia  parts 0      Hi     (0-672 

of  aoda,  earthy  muriatea,  and  a  little  calca* 

aolphate 0        SJ     (0*433 

d2 


Ill  INTRODUCrriON.  [chap.  iir. 

By  these  results  I  have  learned,  that  the  grounds  of  the 
mosaics  were  not  always  prepared  in  the  same  manner. 
Chambers  ^  informs  us,  that  ^^  the  composition  adapted 
to  retain  the  different  pieces  of  glass,  consisted  of  lime, 
and  powder  of  fine  bricks,  with  gum  tragacanth  and 
white  of  egg.  From  the  Encyclopfedie  we  learn,  that 
anciently  the  cement  of  the  mosaics  was  composed  of 
white  of  egg  and  water,  three  parts  of  pulveriz^  bricks, 
and  one  part  of  slaked  lime,  but  that  the  materials 
generally  employed,  and  which  were  preferable  to  the 
preceding,  were  slaked  lime,  pulverized  marble,  and 
linseed  oil.  As  this  last  composition  does  not  differ 
essentially  from  that  which  formed  the  superior  layer 
of  the  Fisan  mosaics,  it  is  evident  that  it  was  known  to 
the  most  eminent  workers  in  mosaic  of  the  thirteenth 
century." 

With  regard  to  the  oil  and  turpentine  or  other  resin 
of  which  Frof.  Branchi  found  traces  in  the  upper 
stratum  of  the  ground,  I  may  add  that  notices  have  been 
found  by  Frof  Ciampi,  in  the  records  of  the  Duomo  of 
Fisa  for  the  year  1303,  of  payments  for  oil  and  tur^ 
pentine  which  belong  to  the  mosaics  of  the  Duomo.* 


1  Diet.,  Art.  Mosaics,  in  which  he  mentions  those  of  Pisa.  [Note  by 
Branchi.]  Chambers  probably  learned  this  from  Vasari  (Intr.,  cap.  xzix.)» 
who  adds  travertine  to  the  other  ingredients. 

t  «  Docum  26 Johannes  Orlandi  conun  me  Ugolino  notario 

recepit  a  D.  Burgundio  operario  pro  pretio*  librarum  76  olei  linseminis  ab 

eo,  et  operate ad  operam  Magiestatis*  que  fit  in  Majori  Dcclesia, 

lib.  iii.  Sol.  z?iiii.  ....  Johannes  Orlandi  sua  sponte  dixit  se  habuisse  a 
d.  Operario  libras  duas  den.  pis.  pro  pretio  libre  viginti  novem  trementine 
operate  ad  operam  Magiestatis."  Da  lib.  di  am.  dell'  an.  1301  st.  pis.  deU* 
opera  del  Duomo  di  Pisa. 

**  Libras  quinquagtnta  quatuor  et  solidos  decem  et  octo  den.  pisanorum 
minutorum  pro  pretio  centinarum  quatuor  olei  linseminis  ad  operam  Ma* 

»  By  a  «*  Majesty"  or  **Mae8tk,"  is  meant  a  representation  of  the  Virgin  or 
Saviour  enthroned.  See  Mr.  £astlake*s  *  Materials/  &e.,  p.  1 70,  n.  In  the  pre* 
sent  case  the  maestk  consists  of  the  gigantic  figure  of  the  Saviour  seated  on  a 
throne,  and  holding  in  his  hand  a  book,  on  which  are  inscribed  the  words  **  Ego 
sum  Lux  Mundi.**  On  one  side  is  the  Virgin,  and  on  the  other  St  John ;  these 
figures  also  are  gigantic,  and  t^e  effect  is  said  to  be  most  grand  and  sublime. 
Morrona,  Pisa  Illust,  vol.  i.  p.  247, 249,  n.    Murray's  Guide  to  North  Italy. 


CHAP.  III.]  MOSAIC  PAINTING.  liU 

■  It  will  be  observed  that  wax  does  not  occur  in  these 
documents^  neither  does  it  appear  that  it  was  found  by 
Prof.  Branchi  in  his  analysis  of  the  ground.  From  this 
it  may  be  inferred,  that  it  was  not  used  generally,  but 
was  employed  by  Agnolo  Gaddi  merely  as  a  hydrofiige. 
Prof.  Branchi  analysed  also  some  of  the  glass  or 
enamel  of  which  the  coloured  cubes  were  composed,  for 
the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  metals  with  which  they 
were  coloured.  On  this  subject  he  has  the  following 
observations : — 

"The  art  of  composing  the  glass  and  enamels  of 
various  colours,  by  uniting  them  with  glass  liquefied  by 
metallic  oxides,  is  at  the  present  time  more  extensively 
and  perfectly  conducted  than  it  was  among  the  ancients. 
Some  chemists  assert  that  the  use  of  the  oxide  of  cobalt 
in  colouring  glass  blue  was  known  to  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tians,' but  this  opinion,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  has  never 
been  confirmed  by  experience.  In  the  observations  of 
the  Cav.  Rossi,  on  the  vase  preserved  at  Genoa  under 
Ae  name  of  the  *  Sacro  Catino,''  &c.  (Torino,  1807), 
inserted  in  the  fifth  number  of  the  Giornale  della 
Societa  d'Incoraggiamento  delle   Scienze  e  dell*  Arte 

l^tatis,  et  aliarum  figuraram  que  fiunt  in  Major!  Ecclcsia,  ad  rationem 

denarionim  xxviii.  pro  qualili^t  libra Upechinus  pictor  pro  libris 

quadraginta  tribus  vemicis  emptis  ab  eo  ad  operum  Magiestatis."  See  also 
Morrona,  Pisalllustr.,  vol.  i.  pp.  249,  2^,  256. 

1  M.  de  Brongniart  (Traits  des  Arts  Cdramiques,  p.  663)  says,  that 
having  analysed  some  of  the  Egyptian  blue  glass,  he  found  it  to  contain 
silica,  alkali,  cobalt,  and  a  small  quantity  of  lime.  He  also  says  that  the 
£gyptian  figurines  are  coloured  blue  with  copper,  and  not  with  cobalt. 

*  This  was  a  vessel  for  a  long  time  supposed  to  have  been  formed  of  a 
single  emerald.  There  is  little  doubt,  however,  that  it  is  composed  of  glass. 
As  a  work  of  art  its  value  will  scarcely  be  diminished  on  this  account ;  since 
it  affords  evidence  of  the  perfection  to  which  the  art  of  making  and  colour- 
ing glass  was  brought  at  a  very  early  period ;  for  this  vessel  formed  part  of 
the  spoils  won  at  the  taking  of  Caesarea  in  1 101.  The  author  of  the  Hand- 
book for  North  Italy  observes  (p.  106),  '*The  extraordinary  perfection  of 
the  material,  as  well  as  the  workmanship,  must  always  cause  it  to  be  consi- 
dered as  a  very  remarkable  monument,  and  of  remote  antiquity.  The  colour 
is  beautiful,  the  transparency  perfect,  but  a  few  dr-bubbles  sufficiently  dis- 
close the  substance  of  which  it  is  made.*' 


Hv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ui. 

stabilita  in  Milano/  the  following  passage  occurs: — 
^  Sig.  Mill  in  infers  from  the  blue  glass^  that  cobalt  was 
known  to  the  ancients ;  but  this  was  unnecessary,  says 
the  author,  because  the  oxide  of  copper,  which  naturally 
takes  a  blue  colour,  was  sufficient  for  this  purpose.'  I 
have  not  been  able  to  analyse  the  blue  glass  of  the  two 
works  in  mosaic  above  mentioned,  because  too  small 
a  quantity  was  sent  me,  and  because  my  own  private 
occupations  did  not  permit  me  to  devote  as  much  time 
to  these  experiments  as  was  necessary.  I  observed, 
however,  that  in  the  Roman  mosaic  and  in  the  frag- 
ments of  the  Pisan  ^  seen  by  refracted  light,  the  charac- 
teristics pointed  out  by  Bergman  which  distinguish 
glass  coloured  with  cobalt  were  entirely  wanting.  I 
observed  also  that  the  last-mentioned  glass  preserved, 
as  it  should  do,  its  own  colour  after  being  pulverized  and 
fused  by  the  combined  action  of  fire  and  of  a  small 
quantity  of  carbonate  of  soda  ;*  whilst  that  from  Rome 
passed  to  an  amethystine  colour,  which  the  Pisan  glass 
also  acquired,  although  in  a  less  degree,  having  been 
both  pulverized,  mixed  with  carbonate  of  soda,  and 
exposed  to  the  same  degree  of  heat.  Having  treated 
in  the  same  manner  the  other  enamels  of  various 
colours  and  more  or  less  opaque  of  the  mosaic  of  Pisa, 
I  saw  that  the  red  passed  to  a  Blue  colour ;  that  the 
purple  was  changed  to  an  amethystine  colour,  and  that 
the  black  became  a  transparent  yellow  glass,  on  the 
surface  of  which  was  an  alkaline  stratum  of  a  bluish 


1  The  blue  glass  of  the  moiaic  of  S.  Paolo  is  transparent ;  that  of  the 
mosaic  of  Pisa  is  opaque,  and  of  much  greater  thickness.  [Note  by  Branch!.] 

*  Sig.  Cloret  remarks  on  this  subject,  **  The  blue  obtained  from  an  oiide 
of  cobalt  is  the  most  permanent  of  all  colours ;  it  is  equally  fine  at  a  low  or 
at  a  great  heat." — Annales  du  Chiroie,  Paris,  tome  zxxIt.  p.  222.  And  in 
tome  ii.  p.  434,  of  the  Dictionnaire  Portatile  des  Arts  et  des  Metiers,  Paris, 
1776,  is  found  the  following  passage : — *'  The  most  permanent  colours  are, 
the  blue  from  cobalt,  which  resists  without  changing  the  greatest  heat  of  the 
fire  ;  then  the  purple  from  gold,  certain  reds  prepared  from  iron,  &c."— « 
[Note  by  Branchi.] 


CHAP.  lu.]  MOSAIC  PAINTING.  Iv 

green.  Having  repeated  these  last  experiments,  I 
obtained  from  the  dark  green,  light  green,  and  purple 
enamels,  results  differing  from  the  preceding  in  the 
gradation  of  colour  only.  From  the  red  I  afterwards 
obtained  a  transparent  glass  of  yellowish  green  colour ; 
from  the  black,  a  violet  or  amethystine  glass.  These 
alterations  and  anomalies,  some  of  which  throw  light  on 
the  nature  of  the  blue  glass  of  the  ancients,  are  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  greater  or  less  degree  of  oxidation  of 
the  metallic  colouring  matters." 

It  will  be  interesting  to  the  practical  artist  to  compare 
the  recipes  for  the  mosaic  glass  and  enamels  in  the 
Bolognese  MS.  with  these  results  of  Prof.  Branchi's 
researches.  In  the  Fisan  mosaics,  the  red  colour 
appears  to  have  been  produced  from  copper,  while  in 
the  MS.  it  is  produced  from  gold  as  well  as  from 
copper.  Another  variation  also  occurs  in  the  blue, 
which  in  the  old  Fisan  and  Roman  mosaics  was  pro- 
duced from  copper,  while  in  the  Bolognese  MS.  it  was 
coloured  with  ^^azzurri  ultramarini."  The  green  of  the 
Fisan  mosaic  was  produced  by  copper,  that  of  the 
Bolognese  MS.  by  ^^  crocus  martis  "  and  salgem. 

The  gilding  of  the  mosaics  of  which  the  backgrounds 
of  the  figures  were  composed  was  next  examined  by 
Frofessor  Branchi.  On  this  subject  he  observes: — 
*^  The  gilding  of  the  cubes  of  common  glass  and  enamel 
of  these  mosaics  is  very  beautiful ;  the  leaf  of  gold  is 
itself  defended  by  a  vitreous  varnish,  which,  although 
not  distinguishable  on  account  of  its  thinness  in  the 
Fisan  mosaic,  except  by  having  a  shining  surface,  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  gold,  and  by  the  resistance  it  offers 
to  iron  tools,  to  the  action  of  mercury,  and  nitro-mu- 
riatic  acid,  is  abo  of  such  a  thickness  in  the  Eoman 
mosaic  that  even  the  sight  of  it  alone  is  sufficient  to 
remove  all  doubt. 

^^  Chambers,^  in  speaking  of  the  method  of  gilding 

1  Diet.,  Art.  Mosaics.    This  also  is  from  Vasari. 


Ivi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap,  m, 

glass  for  mosaics,  does  not  mention  this  varnisk 
^  The  pieces,'  he  says,  ^  to  be  gilded,  are  moistened 
with  gum-water,  and  the  leaves  of  gold  are  applied; 
they  are  then  placed  at  the  entrance  of  the  furnace 
until  they  are  hot  By  this  means  the  metal  remains 
fixed  to  the  glass  so  firmly  that  it  cannot  be  detached/ 
In  order  to  varnish  the  gilded  glass  and  enamels,  it  is 
very  probable  that  glass  or  crystal,  easily  fusible,  was 
reduced  to  an  impalpable  powder;  that  this  powder 
was  distempered  with  water,  or  with  a  solution  of  gum, 
or  of  borate  of  soda  or  other  liquid ;  that  this  mixture 
was  spread  over  the  gilded  surface,  and  that  finally  the 
pieces  of  glass  thus  prepared  were  exposed  to  a  degree 
of  heat  sufficient  to  fiise  this  fine  powder,  which,  when 
fused,  would  form  the  desired  varnish/ 

"  The  gilding  by  fire  on  crystal  *  and  porcelain  is 
much  superior  in  beauty  to  that  of  our  mosaics.  The 
latter,  however,  besides  resisting  the  above-mentioned 
reagents,  appears,  as  it  were,  after  the  lapse  of  six  cen- 
turies, without  the  slightest  alteration,  and  in  the  same 
state  in  which  it  left  the  hand  of  the  artist.  This  ob- 
servation, confirmed  by  so  many  others,  proves  that  the 
old  masters  had  the  stability  of  their  works  much  at 
heart,  and  that  they  wished  to  preserve  them,  not  only 
for  their  own  sons  and  grandsons,  but  also  for  posterity." 
The  method  alluded  to  by  Professor  Branchi  of  mixing 


1  Leon  Battista  Albert!  recommends  fixing  the  gold  to  the  glass  with  cal- 
cined lead  (calcinadi  piombo),  which  he  says  becomes  more  liquid  than  any 
kind  of  glass.     Arch.,  book  6,  cap.  z. 

*  Kunckel,  in  the  additions  to  the  Arte  Vetraria  of  Neri,  treats  at  length 
of  gilding  with  greater  or  less  permanence  on  glass.  For  gilding  which 
was  to  be  fixed  by  fire,  he  recommends  that  the  leaves  of  gold  should  be 
applied  with  the  solution  of  borate  of  soda,  or  the  borax  of  commerce,  or 
with  gum  and  a  small  quantity  of  this  salt  dissolved  in  a  proportionate  quan- 
tity of  water.  By  bathing  that  part  of  the  crystal  which  is  to  be  gilded  with 
a  solution  of  nitro-muriate  of  gold,  mixed  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  sul- 
phuric acid,  and  exposing  it  afterwards  to  a  sufficient  degree  of  heat,  a  fine 
and  permanent  gilding  is^ produced,  according  to  the  assertion  of  Struve  and 
Exsaquet,  Giomalc  di  Torino,  tom.  ii.  part  i.    [Note  by  Branch!.] 


CHAP,  m.]  TARSIA  WORK.  Ivii 

pulverized  glass  with  gum-water,  and  spreading  it  over 
the  gold  leaf,  and  afterwards  fusing  the  glass,  appears 
to  have  been  the  method  followed  by  Theophilus :  while 
the  process  described  by  Count  Caylus  of  placing  the 
design  in  gold  between  two  plates  of  glass,  and  fixing 
the  surfaces  together  by  fire,  was  the  method  which 
Eraclius  says  was  practised  by  the  Romans,  and  which 
he  describes  in  Lib.  I.  cap.  v.^ 

TARSIA  WORK. 

Another  art,  allied  to  mosaic  painting,  was  practised 
in  Italy,  and  was  called  "  Mosaic  of  wood,"  "  Tarsia'* 
or  "  Tarsie"  work,  or  "  Tarsiatura."  This  consisted  in 
representing  houses  and  perspective  views  of  buildings 
by  inlaying  pieces  of  wood  of  various  colours  and 
shades  into  panels  of  walnut  wood. 

Yasari'  says,  that  at  first  this  kind  of  work  was 
executed  in  white  and  black  only ;  but  Fra  Giovanni 
Veronese,  who  practised  it  extensively,  much  improved 
the  art  by  staining  the  wood  with  various  colours  by 
means  of  waters  and  tints  boiled  with  penetrating  oil,  in 
order  to  produce  both  light  and  shadow,  with  wood  of 
various  colours,  making  the  lights  with  the  whitest 
pieces  of  the  spindle  tree.  In  order  to  produce  the 
shades,  it  was  the  practice  of  some  artists  to  singe  the 
wood  by  the  fire ;  while  others  used  oil  of  sulphur  and 
a  solution  of  corrosive  sublimate  and  arsenic. 

St  Audemar  (No.  165)  mentions  that  safiron  was 
used  to  stain  box-wood  yellow ;  but  he  does  not  say  to 
what  use  the  wood  was  put  when  stained. 

The  subjects  most  proper  for  Tarsia  work  are  per- 
spective representations  of  buildings  lull  of  windows 
and  angular  lines,  to  which  force  and  relief  are  given 
by  means  of  lights  and  shades.  Yasari  speaks  rather 
slightingly  of  this  art,  and  says  that  it  was  practised 

1  See  pagea  187,  188.  '  Int.,  cap.  xxxi. 


Iviii  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  ra. 

chiefly  by  those  persons  who  possessed  more  patience 
than  skill  in  design ;  that  although  he  had  seen  some 
good  representations  of  figures,  fruits,  and  animals,  yet 
the  work  soon  became  dark,  and  was  always  in  danger 
of  perishing  from  the  worms  and  by  fire. 

Tarsia  work  was  frequently  employed  in  decorating 
the  choirs  of  churches,  as  well  as  the  backs  of  the  seats 
and  the  wainscotings.  It  was  also  used  in  the  panels 
of  doors.  The  art  was  cultivated  to  the  greatest  extent 
in  the  Venetian  territories,  where  three  Olivetani  monks 
were  particularly  distinguished  for  their  skill.  The  most 
celebrated  of  these  was  Fra  Giovanni  da  Verona,  who 
was  called  to  Rome  by  Pope  Julius  II.  to  decorate  the 
doors  and  seats  of  the  Vatican  with  Tarsia  work,  the 
designs  of  which  were  made  by  Baffitelle.  Fra  Damiano 
da  Bergamo,  a  Dominican  monk,  attained  equal  cele- 
brity in  this  art  So  great  was  his  skill  that  Charles  V. 
refused  to  believe  that  the  Tarsia  work  executed  by 
him  in  the  Area  of  S.  Domenico,  at  Bologna,  really 
consisted  of  pieces  of  wood  inlaid,  but  he  thought  it 
must  have  been  the  work  of  the  pencil.*  Nor  would  he 
be  convinced  of  the  fact  until  part  of  the  stucco  was 
removed  and  a  piece  of  the  wood  taken  out;  in  re- 
membrance of  this  circumstance  the  work  was  left  in 
that  state,  and  has  never  been  repaired. 

The  inlaid  work  in  wood  of  various  kinds  called 
"  Tunbridge  ware"  is  a  kind  of  mosaic,  but  it  cannot 
be  compared  with  the  Italian  Tarsia  work  in  the  deli- 
cate gradations  of  colour,  or  the  intricacy  of  the  subject 
represented. 

^  Marcbetei  Vite  de*  Pittori,  &c.  Domenicani,  vol.  ii.  p.  257. 


CKAF.  nr.]  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  Hx 


CHAPTER  IV. 

GLASS. 
§  1.  Early  Histoiy  of  Painting  on  Glass  in  Italy. 

While  the  history  of  painting  on  glass  has  heen  studied 
in  France  and  Germany,  where  it  has  been  illustrated 
by  the  works  of  Le  Vieil,  Langlois,  Thibaud,  La- 
steyrie,  and  of  Fathers  Martin  and  Cahier,  its  rise  and 
prc^ess  in  Italy  has  been  but  little  investigated.  A 
sufficient  reason  for  this  may  perhaps  be  found  in 
file  superiority  of  the  glass  painters  of  France  and 
Germany  ^  over  those  of  Italy  in  all  the  mechanical 
parts  of  the  art,  as  well  as  in  the  fact  that  all  the 
improvements  introduced  into  this  branch  of  paint- 
ing may  be  traced  to  the  northern  nations,  who  in 
their  turn  are  represented  to  have  received  their  first 
instruction  from  the  East*  It  might  be  supposed 
from  the  celebrity  of  the  glass  works  at  Murano,  that 
the  Venetians  would  have  excelled  in  this  art,  but  this 
has  not  been  the  case ;  the  art  of  painting  on  glass  was 
but  little  practised  by  them,^  and  the  glass  manufac- 
tured at  Murano  was  found  too  opaque  for  this  pur- 
pose.^ Still  the  art  was  occasionally  practised  in  Italy, 
sometimes  by  native  artists,  who  employed  their  skill 
either  on  Venetian  glass,  or  on  glass  manufactured  for 
the  purpose  by  German  or  French  artists,  and  some- 

1  See  Yaaari,  Int,  cap.  zzziL 

I  In  687  many  Greek  workmen  went  to  France,  for  the  purpose  of  work- 
ing in  gla«.    Filian,  Saggio  suU'  Antico  Commercio,  &c.,  p.  148,  n. 

*  The  windows  of  churches  in  the  Venetian  territories  are  usually  filled 
with  imall  drcnlar  panes  of  colourless  glass,  about  6  inches  in  diameter. 

*  Vasari,  Introduction,  cap.  zizii. 


Ix  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  tv. 

times  the  painted  glass  was  executed  entirely  by  foreign 
artists  invited  into  Italy  for  this  purpose.  The  designs, 
however,  were  frequently  made  by  the  Italians,  who 
excelled  the  Germans  in  design  and  composition.  The 
names  of  but  few  painters  on  glass  have  descended  to 
posterity,  and  this  is  partly  explained  by  the  rule  which 
prevailed  among  the  Flemish  artists  at  least,  of  not 
affixing  their  names  to  their  works,  or  of  marking  them 
with  their  monograms  only.  ^  The  notices  of  the 
Italian  painters  on  glass  are  few  and  scanty,  and  have 
never  yet  been  published  collectively.  It  may,  there- 
fore, not  be  uninteresting  to  give  a  short  account  of 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  painters  in  this  branch 
of  the  profession. 

History  has  not  preserved  the  name  of  the  artist  who 
executed  those  glass  windows,  considered  to  be  the 
earliest  of  the  kind  in  Italy,  which  were  painted  or 
stained  by  order  of  Pope  Leo  III.  at  Eome,  a.d.  795  ;* 
neither  is  it  recorded  whether  they  were  by  a  Greek  or 
an  Italian  artist.  That  they  were  the  work  of  the 
latter  is  probable,  from  the  existence  of  recipes  for 
coloured  glass  in  the  Lucca  MS.,  published  by  Mura- 
tori,  which  was  apparently  written  by  an  Italian. 

From  this  time  until  1303 '  no  certain  notices  of 
painting  on  glass  in  Italy  are  found.  The  archives  of 
the  House  of  Savoy  show  that  at  this  period  a  sum  of 
money  was  paid  to  one  Johanneto  (Giannetto)  for 
painting  certain  windows  in  the  Castle  at  Chambery.* 

In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  the  art  was 


1  See  Le  Vieil,  de  la  Peinture  sur  Verre,  p.  83.  Albert  Diirer  is  an 
exception  to  this  rule ;  he  is  said  not  only  to  have  written  his  name  on  his 
works,  but  to  have  added  sometimes  his  portrait  also. 

<  Mur.y  Rer.  Ital.,  tom.  iii.  part  i.  p.  196,  197. 

s  At  Altare,  a  village  in  the  midst  of  the  central  range  of  the  Ligurian 
Alps,  glass* works  are  said  to  have  existed  from  time  immemorial.  They 
are  reported  to  have  been  founded  by  some  fugitive  Gauls. — ^Murray's  Hand- 
book for  North  Italy. 

4  Letteradal  Vemazza  al  P.  Guglielmo  della  Valle.  Giomale  di  Pisa,  1794. 


CHAP.  IV.]        f  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  Ixi 

much  cultivated  in  Tuscany,  especially  by  the  Gesuati, 
who  worked  in  the  Cathedrals  of  Florence,  Arezzo,  and 
elsewhere.  The  names  of  a  few  only  of  these  artists 
have  survived.  The  necrology  of  the  Dominicans,  in 
the  convent  of  Sta.  Maria  Novella  in  Florence,  has 
preserved  the  name  of  Fra  Giacomo  di  Andrea,  a 
Dominican  and  painter  on  glass,  who  flourished  during 
this  century.  ^ 

Fra  Domenico  PoUini,  a  native  of  Cagliari  in  Sar- 
dinia, lived  at  Pisa  during  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  The  Chronicle  of  the  Convent  of  Sta.  Cathe- 
rine of  Pisa  thus  records  his  merits :  "  Frater  Dominicus 
Sardus  de  Pollinis  Kallaritanis  fuit  valde  gratiosus  et 
probus,  soavissime  conversationis.  Cantabat  bene,  scri- 
bebat  pulcre,  et  fenestras  vitreas  operabatur  optime."* 

The  same  Chronicle  also  eulogizes  more  copiously 
Fra  Michele  Pina  of  Pisa,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a 
perfect  master  in  painting  on  glass,  and  who  painted 
the  lai^e  window  in  the  church  of  the  Dominicans  at 
Pistoia  now  destroyed,  and  one  in  the  refectory  of  the 
convent  of  Sta.  Katherine.  He  died  in  1340.  A  lay 
Dominican  named  Andrea  painted  the  window  of  the 
choir  in  the  same  church  of  Sta.  Katherine,  as  appears 
by  his  name  being  at  the  foot  of  it^ 

The  large  window  in  the  choir  of  the  church  of  S. 
Francesco  at  Pisa  was  painted  in  1340,  but  the  name 
of  the  artist  has  not  been  preserved.  This  window  was 
repaired  in  1585  by  P.  Johanne  Antonio  Nerucci.* 

Another  window  in  the  same  church  was  painted  in 
1390  by  Jacopo  Castelli,  of  Siena,  as  is  proved  by  an 
inscription  on  the  glass.^  It  appears  from  these  notices 
and  from  the  records  of  the  Duomo  that  a  school  of 

1  Marchese,  Vite  de'  Pittorii  &c.,  Domenicani,  vol.  i.  p.  391. 

*  lb.,  p.  390. 

s  VftlUmcoliy  Anuali  Pisani,  vol.  i.  p.  428.    See  Marchese,  vol.  ii.  p.  488. 

4  Ciampi,  Notizie,  &c.»  p.  116,  n.     Morrona,  PisalUust.,  vol.iii.  p.  66. 

»  Pisa  Illnat.,  vol.  iii.  p.  60. 


Ixii  INTRODUCTION.  [cbaf.  rr. 

painters  on  glass  subsisted  in  Pisa  irom  the  early  part 
of  the  fourteenth  century  until  1685,  if  not  later. 
Lunardo,  M.  Simone  di  Domenico  of  Florence,  and 
Bartolomeo  da  Scarperia,  painted,  between  1460  and 
1464,  the  glass  for  the  large  windows  which  sheltered, 
on  the  sides  exposed  to  the  north  and  to  the  marine 
winds,  the  walls  of  the  Campo  Santo.  The  remains 
of  the  iron  employed  in  fixing  the  windows  may 
still  be  seen  opposite  the  pictures  of  Buffalmacco  and 
Oi^agnaJ 

About  the  same  time  flourished  at  Venice  one 
Maestro  Marco,  who  painted  certain  windows  in  the 
church  of  S.  Francesco  at  Treviso,  "  which  were  well 
executed;  for  a  certain  German  friar  painted  [the 
originals  of]  all  those  works  formerly  in  the  convent 
(of  the  Frate  Minori)  at  Venice,  and  Maestro  Marco 
copied  and  sent  them  to  Treviso."  This  Marco  is  stated 
to  have  been  living  in  1335.' 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  notices  of  painters  on 
glass  in  Italy  are  more  numerous ;  among  those  who 
flourished  in  the  first  half  of  this  century  may  be  named 
Angioletto  da  Gubbio,  who  painted  some  windows  in 
the  cathedrals  of  Orvieto  and  Siena,  and  the  large 
window  in  the  chapel  of  S.  Ludovico  in  the  Basilica  of 
Assisi.  The  original  designs  for  this  window,  executed 
in  distemper,  are  preserved  in  the  collection  of  Gonte 
Francesco  Ranghiasi  Brancaleone  in  Gubbio.' 

In  the  beginning  of  this  century  flourished  a  Do* 
minican  friar  named  Ambruogio  di  Bindo,  an  excellent 
painter  on  glass,  whose  name  appears  in  the  archives 
of  the  Duomo  of  Siena  from  1404  to  1411.* 


1  Ciampi,  Notizie,  &c.,  p.  116,  n. 

<  Zanetti,  Nuova  Racoolta  delle  Monete  e  Zecche  d*  Italia,  vol.  iv. 
p.  161,  cited  by  Lanzi,  vol.  i.  p.  151,  and  bj  Mr.  Eaatlake, '  Materials,*  &c., 
p.  90,  91. 

s  Memorie  Storiche  di  Ottaviano  Nelll.  Da  Luigi  Bonfatti.  Gubbio, 
1843. 

*  Marchese,  Vite  de*  Pittori  Domenicani,  vol.  ii.  p.  440. 


CHAP.  IT.]  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  '  Ixiii 

Fra  Bartolommeo  di  Pietro  di  Vanni  Accomandati 
of  Perugia  painted  a  beautiful  window  in  the  church  of 
S.  Domenico  at  Perugia,^  which  is  said  to  exceed  in 
the  dimensions,  in  the  composition,  and  in  the  beauty 
of  the  colouring,  every  other  painted  window  in  Italy, 
with  the  exception  of  those  by  Gulielmo  de  Marcillat 
in  Arezzo.  On  the  lowest  compartments  of  this  window 
there  is  an  inscription  purporting  that  the  window  was 
painted  by  Fra  Bartolommeo  in  1411.  It  has  been 
doubted  whether  the  inscription  actually  belonged  to 
the  window  below  which  it  is  placed,  but  the  fact 
appears  to  be  satisfactorily  proved  by  Marchese.'  A 
contract  for  making  a  glass  window  in  the  sacristy  of 
the  church  of  the  Dominicans  proves  that  Bartolommeo 
was  living  in  1415.  The  dates  of  his  birth  and  death 
are  unknown,  but  he  was  resident  in  his  convent  in 
1370,  and  was  elected  superior  of  it  in  1413. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  annals  of  the 
convent  should  have  been  discontinued  (excepting  a 
few  brief  notices)  for  nearly  a  century,  so  that  there 
are  no  means  of  ascertaining  how  Fra  Bartolommeo  ac- 
quired his  skill  in  glass-painting,  or  where  he  procured 
the  glass.  Even  twenty-five  years  after  Bartolommeo 
completed  his  celebrated  work,  the  glass  made  in  Italy 
was  not  considered  good  enough  for  the  windows  of  the 
Duomo  of  Florence ;  for  we  read  that  Lorenzo  Ghiberti, 
who  delighted  greatly  in  this  kind  of  work,  and  who 
had  imdertaken  to  paint  some  of  the  windows  in  this 
cathedral,  having  considered  how  large  a  quantity  of 
glass  of  the  finest  workmanship  would  be  required  for 
so  great  a  work,  and  having  heard  of  a  native  of  Tus- 
cany named  Francesco  Dominici  Livi  di  Gambasso, 
who  was  then  living  in  the  city  of  Lubeck,  and  who 
was  considered  the  most  eminent  master  of  this  art 
then  living,  determined  to  recall  him  with  his  whole 

1  Marcbese,  Vite  de'  Pittori  Domenicani,  vol.  t.  p.  89S. 
>  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  391-402. 


Ixiv  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  iv. 

family  to  his  own  country,  for  the  benefit  of  which  he 
might  exercise  his  profession. 

This  design  was  executed ;  Livi  came  to  Florence  in 
1436,  and  made  the  glass,  which  was  all  painted  hy 
Ghiberti,  with  the  exception  of  one  window,  which  was 
painted  by  Donatello.  Baldinucci  proves  the  truth  of 
these  facts  by  an  entry  in  the  ^  Libro  di  Deliberazione 
de*  Signori  Operai,'  b.  1436,  a.c.  8,*  which  he  quotes  in 
his  Life  of  Ghiberti,  and  thus  disproves  the  assertion 
of  Yasari,  that  the  glass  used  for  this  purpose  was  Ye-- 
netian. 

In  reading  the  history  of  Italian  art  there  is  nothing 
that  strikes  the  mind  more  forcibly  than  that  versatility 
and  universality  of  genius  for  which  so  many  of  the 
medieval  and  cinque-cento  artists  were  distinguished,  and 
by  which  they  were  enabled  to  attain  so  high  a  degree 
of  eminence  in  all  the  fine  arts.  At  the  present  time, 
in  which  division  of  labour  is  the  order  of  the  day,  the 
exercise  of  one  branch  of  the  arts  is  considered  a  suffi- 
cient employment  for  the  mental  powers  of  an  artist 
during  his  whole  life.  When  we  remember  the  long 
period  of  pupilage  through  which  the  Italian  artists 
were  accustomed  to  pass,  it  is  not  surprising  that  there 
should  have  been  artists  who  have  succeeded  in  all 
kinds  of  painting,  as  I  have  mentioned  with  regard  to 
the  painters  in  mosaic  and  on  glass,  who  frequently 
excelled  also  in  oil  and  fresco  painting;  but  it  does 
appear  astonishing  that  the  greatest  architect  should 
have  been,  as  was  firequently  the  case,  not  only  the 
greatest  painter  of  his  time,  but  the  greatest  sculptor 
also.  Yasari  accounts  for  this  fact  by  saying  that 
^^  design  and  invention  are  the  father  and  mother  of  all 
the  arts,  and  not  of  one  only."  There  is  no  doubt  that 
he  was  right,  and  that  the  great  Italian  masters  owed 


1  The  same  document  is  published  in  the  Carteggio  Inedito,  vol.  ii. 
p.  441. 


CHAP.  IV.]  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  Ixv 

their  celebrity  to  their  mental  endowments,  and  not 
merely  to  their  practical  skill.  It  is  said  ^  on  the  au- 
thority of  Lorenzo  Ghiberti  that  Giotto,  painter,  archi- 
tect, and  poet,  sculptured  some  of  the  subjects  in  marble 
on  his  own  beautiful  campanile  at  Florence.  At  a 
later  period  the  great  Raphael  changed  his  manner  of 
painting  after  having  examined  the  paintings  of  Michael 
Angelo,  the  greatest  architect  and  the  greatest  sculptor 
of  his  age.  Francia  was  a  goldsmith  before  he  was  a 
painter.  The  genius  of  Benvenuto  Cellini  was  as  con- 
spicuous in  the  jewelled  ornaments  he  made  for  the 
pope  as  in  his  Perseus.  The  names  of  painters  who 
have  possessed  high  mathematical  attainments  are 
numerous.  But  the  most  remarkable  man  among  the 
moderns  was  undoubtedly  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  who  was 
at  once  a  painter,  poet,  musician,  mathematician,  and 
natural  philosopher,  and,  as  some  say,  architect  and 
statuary  also,  whose  sagacity  anticipated  Bacon  in  de- 
claring that  experiment  should  precede  theory — who 
had  described  the  camera  obscura  before  it  was  made 
known  by  Porta — who  wrote  on  the  descent  or  attrac* 
tion  of  heavy  bodies  to  the  earth  forty  years  before 
Copernicus — whose  discoveries  in  hydraulics  preceded 
by  a  century  those  of  Castelli — and  whose  observations 
**  on  flame  and  air  "were  made  nearly  three  centuries 
before  the  modern  theory  of  combustion  was  promul- 
gated.* Did  Lionardo,  when  he  registered  these  dis- 
coveries in  characters  that  could  only  be  read  by 
reflection  in  a  glass,  think,  like  Bacon,  that  mankind 

1  Vastri,  Vita  di  Giotto.  Lorenzo  Ghiberti  left  a  MS.,  in  which  he 
gives  a  short  accoant  of  ancient  and  modem  painters.  The  most  interest- 
ing parts  of  this  Essay  have  been  published  by  Cicognara  in  his  Storia  di 
Seal  turn. 

s  See  Arooretti,  Memorie  Storiche  di  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  p.  186«142, 
citing  Venturi,  Essai  sur  les  Ouvrages  Math^matiques  de  L^nard  da 
Vinci,  1797.  See  also  Humboldt's  Kosmos,  vol.  ii.  p.  322,  380,  389,  and 
Hallam's  Hist,  of  Literature,  vol.  i.  p.  303,  and  note. 

VOL.  L  e 


Ixvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  iv. 

were    not  at   that  period  sufficiently   enlightened  to 
profit  by  his  researches  into  the  arcana  of  nature  ? 

Second  to  Lionardo  only  in  fame,  but  his  equal  in 
talent,  was  Leon  Batista  Alberti.  His  genius  was 
universal :  he  was  a  skilful  architect,  an  accomplished 
painter,  sculptor,  poet,  and  musician,  a  mathematician 
and  inventor  of  optical  instruments,  an  author  of  trea- 
tises on  painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture,  and  a 
moral  and  dramatic  writer. 

Lorenzo  Ghiberti  was  another  of  these  distinguished 
men.  He  began  his  career  as  a  goldsmith,  but  being 
more  partial  to  the  arts  of  design  and  sculpture,  he 
sometimes  practised  painting,  and  sometimes  cast  small 
bronze  figures,  which  he  finished  with  infinite  grace. 
In  his  maturer  years  he  seems  to  have  occasionally 
worked  at  all  these  arts.  He  painted  an  apartment  for 
Pandolfo  Malatesta  at  Rimini  soon  afler  the  year  1400. 
In  1439  he  made  for  Pope  Eugenius  a  golden  mitre 
which  weighed  fifteen  pounds ;  the  weight  of  the  pearls 
with  which  it  was  decorated  was  five  pounds  and  a  halfj 
and  which,  with  the  other  jewels,  were  estimated  at 
30,000  golden  ducats.  It  is  said  that  six  of  these 
pearls  were  as  large  as  filberts,  and  Vasari  remarks 
that,  to  judge  from  the  design,  nothing  could  be  ima- 
gined more  beautiful  than  the  arrangement  of  the  jewels 
and  the  variety  of  the  figures  and  other  ornaments. 
But  the  capo  d'opera  of  Ghiberti  was  the  bronze  doors 
of  the  Baptistery  at  Florence,  one  of  the  finest  works  of 
the  middle  ages,  and  which  alone  was  sufficient  to  im- 
mortalise the  name  of  Ghiberti.  His  predilection  for 
painting  on  glass  has  been  already  mentioned.  Besides 
the  windows  in  the  Duomo  of  Florence,  he  painted 
others  at  Arezzo ;  but  in  spite  of  his  precautions  to  se- 
cure the  best  kind  of  glass,  it  is  related  that  the  build- 
ings were  too  much  obscured  by  these  windows,  and 
this  was  undoubtedly  Yasari's  reason  for  saying  they 


CHAP.  IV.]  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  Ixvii 

were  made  of  Venetian  glass*  Lorenzo  taught  the  art 
of  painting  on  glass  to  Parri  Spinello,  who  introduced 
it  into  Arezzo.^ 

At  Milan  during  this  century  the  art  was  practised 
less  successfully.  It  appears  from  an  entry  in  the 
records  of  the  Duomo^  dated  November  10,  1449/  that 
a  dispute  having  arisen  between  Stefano  da  Fandino, 
the  painter,  and  the  authorities  on  account  of  some 
window  which  he  had  painted,  his  work  was  adjudged 
to  be  so  badly  executed  that  the  artist  was  obliged  to 
repaint  great  part  of  it  at  his  own  expense. 

In  the  Venetian  territories  painting  on  glass  was 
jQccasionally  practised  at  this  period.  In  1473  the 
window  of  the  choir  in  the  south  transept  of  the  church 
of  SS.  Giovanni  and  Paolo  at  Venice,  and  another  at 
Murano,  were  painted  by  Mocetto  from  the  designs  of 
Vivarini.' 

But  the  most  distinguished  painter  on  glass  of  the 
fifteenth  century  in  Italy  was  Beato  Giacomo  da 
Ulmo,  a  native  of  Ulm,  in  Germany.  He  was  born  in 
1 406,  and  acquired  the  art  of  painting  on  glass  in  this 
city.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  travelled  to  Home, 
where  he  spent  his  time  and  money  in  visiting  the 
sacred  edifices  of  that  city;  but  finding  himself  at 
last  pennyless,  he  became  a  soldier  in  the  service  of 
Alphonso  of  Arragon,  king  of  Naples,  and  fought  in 
the  great  battle  in  which  the  Genoese  were  victorious, 
and  Alphonso  lost  both  his  throne  and  bis  life.  Gia« 
como  having  served  four  years  in  the  army,  became 
disgusted  with  the  profession,  and  engaged  himself  as 
servant  to  a  citizen  of  Capua.  In  1440  or  1441  he 
determined  to  return  to  his  native  land  and  embrace 

1  Vasari,  Vita  di  Lorenzo  Gbiberti. 

*  Memorie  de'  Pittori,  Scultori,  e  Architetti  Milanesi,  Opera  MS.  deH' 
Abate  Ant?  Albuzzi,  vol.  t.  This  MS.  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Co. 
Guetano  Melzi|  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  loan  of  it. 

'  S«e  Lanzi,  vd.  i.  p.  162,  and  Murray's  Hand-book  for  North  ItaljTi 
p.  354. 

e2 


i 


Ixviii  INTRODUCTION.  [cawp-  !▼. 

once  more  his  aged  father.  With  this  view  he  arrived 
at  Bologna,  where,  praying  before  the  altar  of  S.  Do- 
menico,  he  felt  himself  inspired  to  renounce  his  earthly 
home,  and  think  only  of  the  heavenly.  In  the  thirty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age  he  entered  his  noviciate  in  this 
monastery,  where  he  lived  for  fifty  years  a  life  so  holy 
that  he  obtained  the  honours  of  canonization.  His 
death  took  place  in  1491. 

With  the  religious  habit  Fra  Giacomo  resumed  his 
early  occupation  of  painting  on  glass.  It  appears  from 
public  archives  preserved  in  Bologna,  that  he  painted 
windows  in  the  convent  of  S.  Domenico  in  1464  and 
1465 ;  in  the  library  from  1467  until  1472 ;  and  the 
last  time  his  name  was  mentioned  was  in  1480,  when 
he  was  in  his  seventy-third  year.  Some  painted  glass 
in  a  window  of  the  first  dormitory  in  this  convent  has 
been  attributed  to  him ;  but  it  is  considered  by  Bian- 
coni  *  and  by  Marchese  to  be  much  more  ancient — in- 
deed to  be  the  most  ancient  specimen  of  painted  glass 
in  Bologna. 

But  the  principal  works  of  Fra  Giacomo  were  in  the 
church  of  S.  Petronio  in  Bologna.'  It  is  much  to  be 
regretted  that  it  cannot  now  be  ascertained  what  glass 
was  painted  by  him,  for  the  windows  in  this  church 
were  the  work  of  several  artists,  among  the  best  of 
whom  was  Frate  Ambrogino  da  Soncino,  who  had  been 
pupil  of  Fra  Giacomo  for  thirty  years.  Besides  the 
glass  in  S.   Petronio,  Fra  Giacomo  is  said  to  have 


1  Guida  di  Bologna. 

s  The  colours  in  the  old  glass  in  S.  Petronio  are  eitremelj  Tifid — nhj. 
red,  emerald  green,  ultramarine  blue,  and  opaque  black.  The  two  former 
are  transparent,  but  the  blue  is  semi>opaque,  resembling  in  effect  thin  plates 
of  ultramarine,  rather  than  blue  glass.  I  could  imagine  the  colour  was 
produced  by  stirring  the  ultramarine  in  powder  into  glass,  as  described  hj 
Suger  when  speaking  of  the  blue  glass  for  the  abbey  of  S.  Denys.  In  one 
of  the  windows  is  another  kind  of  blue,  more  transparent,  but  the  colour  is 
neither  so  deep  nor  so  pure. — This  resembles  the  blue  seen  in  the  old 
Venetian  coloured  glass  windows. 


CHAP.  IV.]  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  IxiX 

painted  several  other  windows  in  Bologna,  which  still 
remain. 

It  appears  firom  an  entry  in  the  records  of  the  con- 
vent that  Fra  Giacomo  was  assisted  in  the  designs  by 
a  certain  Michele.  Bianconi  states  ^  that  the  designs 
for  some  of  the  windows  in  S.  Petronio  were  by  the 
great  Michael  Angelo  Buonarroti.  On  considering 
the  dates,  it  will  be  seen  that  these  designs  by  Michael 
Angelo  could  not  have  been  for  the  windows  painted 
by  Fra  Giacomo,  because  it  does  not  appear  that  the 
latter  painted  after  1480,  when  Michael  Angelo  had 
only  attained  his  sixth  year.  The  reputation  of  Beato 
Giacomo  was  as  great  in  France  as  in  Italy.  He  was 
there  called  "  Jacques  TAUemand."  Le  Vieil  (p.  34) 
says,  "The  miracles  that  were  wrought  at  his  tomb 
caused  him  to  be  placed  among  the  saints  of  his  order, 
and  the  company  or  guild  of  the  master  glass-makers, 
painters  on  glass  at  Paris,  celebrate  his  fete  as  their 
second  patron  on  the  second  Sunday  in  October." 

The  discovery  of  the  art  of  staining  glass  a  trans- 
parent yellow  with  silver  has  been  by  some  authors 
ascribed  to  Van  Eyck,  but  it  is  attributed  with  greater 
reason  to  Fra  Giacomo  da  Ulmo.  The  discovery  is 
said  to  have  originated  in  an  accident.  Le  Vieil  (p. 
108)  gives  the  following  account  of  it: — Fra  Giacomo 
being  one  day  occupied  in  placing  his  glass  in  the  fur- 
nace in  order  to  fix  the  colours,  let  fall  a  silver  button 
from  one  of  his  sleeves  without  perceiving  it.  The 
button  sank  into  the  lime,  which  is  always  placed  in 
the  furnace  under  the  glass.  The  furnace  being  closed, 
die  enamels  melted.  The  button,  or  at  least  a  part  of 
it,  was  fused,  and  it  imparted  a  yellow  stain  to  the 
glass  which  lay  above  it,  and  this  yellow  stain  was 
found  to  have  penetrated  into  the  substance  of  the 
glass. 


I  Gutdadi  Bologna. 


i 


Ixx  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  iv. 

Fra  Ambrogino  da  Soncino,  the  pupil  of  Giacomo, 
was  also  an  excellent  painter  on  glass,  and  his  works 
may*be  seen  in  many  churches  at  Bologna.  He  died 
in  1517.  He  wrote  the  life  of  his  master,  Giacomo, 
from  which  the  biographical  facts  relative  to  the  latter 
have  been  extracted.* 

Frate  Anastasio,  also  a  lay  brother  of  the  convent  of 
S.  Domenico  at  Bologna,  was  another  pupil  ^f  Fra 
Giacomo.  He  died  in  1529,  having  instructed  in  his 
art  a  pupil  who  left,  in  a  book  of  Memoranda  concern- 
ing the  Area  of  S.  Domenico,  begun  in  the  year  1521, 
the  following  affectionate  and  pathetic  memorial  of  his 
master : — "  After  him  (one  Fra  Petronio,  who  held  the 
office  of  Archistl,  or  guardian  of  the  Area,  until  1521) 
came  my  beloved  and  dear  master  and  predecessor  Frate 
Anastasio,  a  lay  brother,  a  devout  man,  a  man  of  God, 
and  of  our  father  S.  Domenico.  Cheerful,  of  middling 
stature,  the  beauty  of.  his  mind  was  reflected  in  that  of 
his  body ;  in  him  I  frequently  seemed  to  behold  a 
cherub ;  one  of  his  hands  was  worth  my  whole  body ; 
he  had  great  genius,  was  most  skilful  in  painting  on 
glass,  a  disciple  and  imitator  of  the  blessed  Giacomo, 
and  during  the  space  of  eight  years  he  most  faithfoUy, 
most  fervently,  and  most  devotedly  served  witib  the 
greatest  charity  and  integrity  of  life,  his  and  our  good 
father  S.  Domenico,  and  by  him  he  was  richly  re- 
warded.*' * 

That  affectionate  and  lasting  attachment  which  so 
frequently  subsisted  between  the  master  and  the  pupils, 
and  which  is  a  beautiful  trait  in  the  character  of  the 
Italian  painters,  could  only  have  arisen  under  their 
system  of  working  together  for  a  long  period  of  years. 
The  lengthened  term  of  the  apprenticeship,  frequently, 
extending  to  twelve  years,  and  the  consequent  inter- 


^  Marebese,  vol.  i.  p.  409,  410. 
«IWd.,  p.41l. 


CHAP.  xv.J  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  Ixxi 

change  of  benefits  givien  and  received  by  master  and 
pupil,  frequently  gave  rise  to  a  friendship  as  sincere  as 
it  was  affectionate,  and  which  terminated  only  with  the 
death  of  one  of  the  parties.  Thus  Taddeo  Gaddi,  the 
godson  and  favourite  pupil  of  Giotto,  was  the  disciple 
of  the  latter  for  twenty-four  years ;  Cennini  was  for 
twelve  years  the  pupil  of  Agnolo,  the  son  of  Taddeo. 
Many  other  instances  are  noticed  in  these  pages ;  many 
also  are  recorded  by  Vasari. 

In  the  *  History  of  the  Duomo  of  Orvieto '  Mt  is 
stated  that  in  1444  a  certain  Fra  Mariano  di  Yiterbo, 
a  Dominican,  offered  himself  to  paint  the  windows  of 
the  cathedral,  and  proposed  to  paint  one  as  a  specimen. 
He  did  so,  but  his  painting  was  not  approved  of,  and 
D.  Gasparro  di  Volterra,  a  priest,  was  then  invited  to 
paint  a  specimen.  This  also  was  disapproved  of^  and 
ultimately  the  celebrated  Benedictine  monk  D.  Fran- 
cesco di  Barone  Brunacci  was  selected,  who  executed 
the  work  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties.  Marchese  ^ 
conjectures  that  he  was  a  pupil  of  Fra  Bartolommeo  di 
Pietro. 

In  the  Necrology  of  the  convent  of  S.  Domenico  at 
Siena,  under  the  year  1515  is  mentioned  the  name  of 
Prater  Raphael  Feregrini;  he  is  said  to  have  been 
skilful  in  painting  on  glass.^ 

The  names  of  two  other  professors  of  this  art,  Fra 
Cristophano  and  Fra  Bernardo,  have  been  preserved 
in  the  archives  of  the  Duomo  of  Arezzo.  The  contract 
is  dated  March,  1477,  and  the  colours  were  to  be 
**  cotti  alfuoco^  e  non  messi  a  olio.''  * 

A  similar  stipulation  is  contained  in  the  contract, 
dated  August,  1513  (preserved  in  the  same  archives), 
relative  to  the  windows  to  be  painted  in  the  cathedral 


J  Storta  del  Duomo  di  Orvieto,  Document  Ixviii.  p.  71 
«  Vol.  i.  p.  413.  3  Id.  ibid. 

4  Carteggio  Inedito  d'  Artiati,  vol.  ii.  p.  446. 


Ixxli  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  tv. 

by  Domenicho  Pietro  Vannis  de  Pechoris  *  and  Stagio 
Fabiani  Stagii  ;*  and  in  another  contract,  dated  April 
25,  1515,'  it  was  stipulated  that  Domenicho  should 
execute  certain  paintings  on  good  Venetian  or  German 
glass.  The  price  paid  for  the  last  windows  was  at  the 
rate  of  fourteen  "  lire  piccole  "  the  square  braccio/ 
The  execution,  however,  of  these  works  was  not  such 
as  to  satisfy  the  good  people  of  Arezzo,  and  one  M. 
Lodovico  Bellichini,  a  physician,  and  intimate  friend 
of  Guglielmo  de  Marcillat,  persuaded  the  latter,  who 
was  then  resident  at  Cortona,  to  visit  Arezzo,  where 
Stagio  had  the  liberality  to  invite  him  to  reside  in  his 
house.^ 

The  greatest  of  all  the  artists  who  practised  painting 
on  glass  in  Italy  was  Guglielmo  de  Marcillat,  whose 
name  is  generally  translated  William  of  Marseilles. 
Dr.  Gaye,  the  editor  of  the  *  Carteggio  Inedito,'  has, 
however,  discovered  his  real  name  and  designation  in 
a  document  preserved  in  the  archives  belonging  to  the 
Bishop  of  Arezzo.  He  is  there  •  described  as  "  Messer 
Guillelmo  de  Piero,  Franceze,  Priore  di  S.  Tibaldo,  di 
Sto.  Michele,  diocesi  di  Verduno"  (Verdun,  in 
France),  and  he  subscribes  his  name  thus :  ^*  lo  Guil- 
lelmo de  Piero  de  Marcillat"  From  this  Marchese 
(vol.  ii.  p.  212)  thinks  that  Marcillat  was  his  family- 
name,  and  Piero  that  of  his  father.  He  was  bom  in 
1475,  and  acquired  the  art  of  painting  on  glass  in 
France.  In  order  to  escape  the  consequence  of  being 
concerned,  with  some  of  his  friends,  in  the  death  of  an 
enemy,   he  sought  refuge    in   a   Dominican  convent, 

1  Carteggio  Inedito  d'  Artisti,  vol.  ii.  p.  446.  See  also  Yasari,  Life  of 
Don  Bartolommeo,  Abate  di  S.  dementi. 

*  Carteggio  Inedito,  vol.  ii.  p.  446.  Vasari,  in  the  Life  of  Lazzaro, 
calls  this  artist  Fabiano  Sassoli. 

s  Carteggio  Inedito,  vol.  ii.  p.  449.  ^  A  braccio  is  about  23  inches. 

^  Vasari,  Vita  di  Guglielmo  de  Marcillat,  and  see  Marchese,  vol.  ii. 
p.  211,  &c. 

^  Carteggio  Inedito,  &c.,  vol.  ii.  p.  449. 


CHAP,  ivj  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  'xxili 

where  he  assumed  the  habit  of  the  order  and  continued 
to  practise  his  art. 

About  this  time  Pope  Julius  the  Second  commis- 
sioned Bramante  to  introduce  many  windows  of  glass 
into  the  palace.  In  reply  to  the  inquiries  made  by  the 
latter  for  the  most  excellent  among  those  who  practised 
this  art,  he  was  informed  that  these  things  were  done 
in  a  wonderful  manner  in  France,  and  he  was  shown  a 
specimen  by  the  French  ambassador  at  the  Court  of 
Rome,  who  had  for  the  window  of  his  study  a  piece 
of  white  glass,  on  which  was  painted  a  figure  with  an 
infinite  number  of  colours  fixed  on  the  glass  by  the 
action  of  fire.  Bramante  caused  an  invitation  to  be 
sent  to  these  French  artists,  offering  them  good  emolu- 
ment. Claudio,  a  brother  monk,  and  excellent  painter 
on  glass,  and  intimate  friend  of  Guglielmo,  persuaded 
the  latter  to  accept  the  offer,  and  the  two  artists  set  out 
together  for  Bome,  where  they  were  employed  by  the 
Pope  to  paint  several  windows  of  the  palace,  which  are 
now  no  longer  in  existence ;  two  only  remain  of  those 
painted  in  Sta.  Maria  del  Popolo.  About  this  time 
his  friend  Claudio  died,  leaving  him  heir  to  his  designs, 
and  the  implements  used  in  the  art ;  and  Guglielmo 
henceforward  worked  by  himself.  From  Rome  he 
went  to  Cortona,  where  he  painted  the  fi*ont  of  the 
house  of  Cardinal  Passerini,  and  several  windows. 
Leaving  Cortona  he  went  to  Siena,  where  he  painted 
a  window  in  Sta.  Lucia,  in  the  chapel  of  the  Alber- 
gotti,  in  the  bishopric  of  Arezzo ;  "  which,"  says  Va- 
sari,  ^^  may  truly  be  said  to  be  living  figures,  and  not 
coloured  or  transparent  glass."  Some  parts  of  these 
still  remain,  and  the  parts  deficient  are  filled  up  with 
white  glass.  He  also  painted  three  windows  in  the 
Duomo  di  Arezzo,  as  appears  by  the  following  con- 
tract,' dated  31  Oct.,  1519:— 


1  Carteggio  Inedito^  vol.  ii.  p.  449. 


Ixxiv  *     INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.iv. 

^'  I  signori  operai  al  Yescovado  ano  alogato  a  fare 
tre  finestre  di  vetro  in  Vescovado  a  Maestro  Guglielmo 
di  Pietro,  franceze,  maestro  a  far  finestre  di  vetro,  coie 
una  finestra  sopra  la  cappella  di  San  Francesco^  una 
finestra  sopra  la  cappella  di  San  Matio,  una  finestra 
sopra  la  cappella  di  San  Niccolo,  per  prezzo  di  lire  15 
per  ciascheduno  braccio,  cotti  a  fuoco^  non  a  olio,  e 
debale  avere  finite  per  tutto  Gugno  prossimo  1520." 

For  each  of  these  windows  he  received  180  ducats, 
as  appears  by  a  record  dated  31st  Dec,  1520. 

He  also  painted  a  window  in  the  church  of  the 
Dominicans,  for  which  he  would  receive  no  recom- 
pense, "because,"  he  said,  "he  was  much  indebted  to 
that  society,"  alluding  to  the  shelter  and  protection  the 
Dominicans  had  formerly  afforded  him. 

Besides  other  windows,  he  painted  several  frescoes 
which  are  still  in  good  preservation ;  the  design  and 
composition  of  these  works  are  good,  but  the  colouring 
is  rather  feeble.^ 

He  lost  his  life  from  his  too  great  application  to 
fresco  painting,  which  he  followed  summer  and  winter ; 
the  exhalations  from  the  lime  occasioned  an  illness 
which  carried  him  ofi*in  a  few  days,  in  the  year  1537, 
at  the  age  of  62.^ 

Many  practical  details  relative  to  painting  on  glass 
are  given  in  the  Life  of  Guglielmo  by  Vasari,  who 
united  to  his  other  attainments  a  knowledge  of  this  art. 
Vasari  attributes  to  Guglielmo  de  Marcillat  the  honour 
of  having  carried  the  art  of  painting  on  glass  to  per- 
fection in  Tuscany.  He  particularly  eulogizes  the 
skill  of  Guglielmo  in  the  arrangement  of  the  colours, 
whereby  the  most  forcible  colours  were  employed  for 
the  figures  in  the  foreground,  while  the  darker  colours 
were  reserved  for  the  more  distant  objects.  He  praises 
also  his  invention  and  composition,  and  the  great  skill 

1  Marchese,  vol.  ii.  p.  223. 

3  Vasari,  Vita  dc  Guglielmo  do  Marcillat. 


CHAP.  IV.]  '  PAINTING  ON  GLASa  Ixxv 

with  which  he  arranged  the  joinings  of  the  lead  and 
iron,  which  he  disposed  in  such  a  manner  in  the  joints 
of  the  figures,  and  the  folds  of  the  draperies,  that  they 
were  scarcely  visible,  and  even  imparted  to  the  figures 
a  grace  which  could  not  be  exceeded  by  the  pencil. 
Vasari  mentions  more  than  once  the  great  dexterity  of 
Guglielmo  in  applying  different  colours  to  the  same 
piece  of  glass  by  grinding  away  the  coloured  surfaces, 
so  as  to  leave  the  white  glass,  to  which  another  colour 
was  afterwards  given ;  and  he  informs  us  that  the 
Gesuati  of  Florence,  by  whom  this  art  was  much  cul- 
tivated, having  obtained  possession  of  a  window  painted 
by  Guglielmo,  took  it  to  pieces  in  order  to  ascertain 
how  it  was  put  together,  and  removed  and  experi- 
mented on  many  of  the  pieces  of  glass,  which  they 
replaced  by  new  ones. 

Guglielmo  left  the  materials  belonging  to  the  art  to 
Pastorino  da  Siena,  his  assistant,  who  had  worked  for 
him  many  years.^  Pastorino  painted  in  1549  the 
beautiful  round  or  rose  window  (occhio)  in  the  Duomo 
of  Siena,  and  others  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome.  He 
usually  worked  from  the  designs  of  Pierino  del  Vaga. 

Maso  Porro,  of  Cortona,  who  was  more  skilful  in 
joining  and  in  burning  the  glass  than  in  painting,  and 
Battista  Borro,  of  Arezzo,  were  also  pupils  of  Gugli- 
elmo de  Marcillat.  The  latter  taught  the  art  to 
Benedetto  Spadari  and  Giorgio  Vasari,  the  biographer 
of  the  painters. 

To  these  artists  may  be  added  Gondrate,  who  in 
1574  painted  a  window  in  the  Duomo  of  Parma,  from 
a  design  by  Lattanzio  Gambara. 

The  first  glass  furnace  was  introduced  into  Rimini 
in  1551  by  Geminiano  da  Modena,  whose  sons  became 
excellent  painters  on  glass.^ 


1  Vasari,  Life  of  Guglielmo ;  Bald.,  Vite,  Dec.  iv.  Part  i.  del  Sec.  iv. 
*  Vcdriani,  Pittori  Modcncsi,  p  86. 


Ixxvi  INTRODUCTION,  [chap.  iv. 


§  2.  On  Windows. 

We  have  been  so  long  accustomed  to  see  glass  win- 
dows in  our  houses,  that  few,  perhaps,  except  antiquaries 
and  archaeologists,  have  ever  inquired  whether  they  were 
possessed  by  our  ancestors.  It  may  not,  therefore, 
be  deemed  uninteresting  to  relate  briefly  a  few  facts 
relative  to  this  subject,  gleaned  from  history  and 
archaeology. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  ^  that  glass  windows  were 
employed  occasionally  in  ecclesiastical  buildings  during 
the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era ;  but  the  prac^ 
tice  was  by  no  means  universal,  and  the  most  ancient 
glass  windows  mentioned  to  have  been  constructed  in 
Italy  were  those  ordered  by  Pope  Leo  the  Third  in 
the  eighth  century  *  at  Rome.  The  windows  of  some 
sacred  edifices  were  closed  with  valves,  or  shutters  of 
stone,  like  those  of  the  Duomo  of  Torcello*  erected  in 
1008.  Others  were  filled  with  slabs  of  a  transparent 
kind  of  talc  or  alabaster.*  The  only  example  now 
known  to  exist  of  this  kind  of  window  is  in  the  church 
of  St  Miniato  at  Florence,  built  in  the  commencement 
of  the  eleventh  century,  under  the  Emperor  Henry 
and  his  wife  Cunegonda.  The  windows,  five  in  num- 
ber, are  ia  the  apsis,  and  are  each  filled  with  a  single 
slab,  formed  of  a  kind  of  transparent  alabaster,  or 
marble,  called  by  the  Italians  "  fengite."  *  Tl^e  effect 
of  these  windows  is  singular.  When  illuminated  by 
the  morning  sun,  they  appear  shining  with  a  cloudy 
roseate  light.* 


I  See  Theoph.,  E.  Ed.,  p.  185. 

*  Coloured  glass  is  mentioned  in  the  Lucca  MS.,  which  is  sud  to  be  of 
tins  century. 

s  The  windows  are  now  glazed,  but  this  is  thought  to  be  a  later  addition. 
.4  Vasari,  Int.,  cap.  xzxii.  ^  Fantozsi,  Guida  di  Firenze,  p.  770. 

^  Murray's  Guide  to  North  Italy,  p.  688. 


CHAP,  iv.]  WINDOWS.  Ixxvii 

Bede  relates  that  glass  was  brought  to  England,  a.d. 
674,  by  certain  ecclesiastics  for  the  purpose  of  deco- 
rating the  churches  then  erecting  in  this  country ;  but 
although  makers  of  glass  were  brought  to  England  at 
the  same  time,  the  progress  of  the  art  in  this  country 
must  have  been  inconsiderable,  since  Matthew  Paris 
relates  that,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Third,  a  few 
churches  only  had  glass  windows.  In  1135,  glazed 
frames,  called  "  verrinaB,"  were  made  for  the  windows 
in  the  chapel  and  hall  of  Winchester,  and  in  some  of 
the  chambers.^  The  earliest  painted  glass  in  York 
Cathedral  was  painted  about  1200.  This  slowness  of 
progress  must,  however,  have  been  the  effect  of  want 
of  encouragement  rather  than  of  want  of  ability,  for 
in  1 153  the  Queen  of  England  sent  a  present  of  a 
painting  on  glass  to  the  Comte  de  Dreux,  and  his 
third  wife,  the  Comtesse  of  Braine,  in  Normandy.* 
The  beauty  of  the  early  English  paiqted  glass  is  evi- 
dent from  the  windows  of  Lincoln  Cathedral :  some  of 
these,  which  are  remarkable  for  the  brilliancy  of  the 
colours,  were  executed  in  1220. 

In  France  Ae  art  must  have  been  extensively  cul- 
tivated. A  great  many  churches  were  erected  during 
the  eleventh  century,  and  Le  Yieil  considers  that  the 
art  of  painting  on  glass,  properly  so  called,  arose  in 
France  about  this  period.  In  the  twelfth  century 
Suger  adorned  the  Abbey  of  St.  Deuys  with  painted 
windows,  and  his  example  was  followed  in  most  of  the 
churches  newly  erected. 

The  use  of  glass  windows  in   private   houses  was 


1  Archeeological  Journal  for  1845,  p.  54. 

s  Le  Vieil  (de  la  Peinture  sur  Verre,  p.  24),  quoting  the  Chartularium 
of  the  Abbey,  and  the  Index  Coenobionim  Ordinis  Prsemonstratensis. 
According  to  Lavoisne,  Matilda  of  Boulogne,  wife  of  Stephen,  died  in 
J 152,  consequently  there  was  no  Queen  of  England  in  1153.  The 
window,  however,  might  have  been  ordered  to  be  painted  some  yean 
prerioualy,  and  perhaps  was  not  completed  and  fixed  in  its  destined  place 
until  1153. 


Ixxviii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  iv. 

extremely  limited  during  the  middle  ages.  In  France 
it  was  not  employed  until  the  fourteenth  century.* 
At  the  close  of  this  century,  however,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  next,*  several  windows  were  painted  for  the 
hotel  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  in  the  Rue  de  la  Poterne 
lez  Saints  Pol,  at  Paris.  It  may  be  interesting  to 
know  that  the  price  paid  for  this  painted  glass  varied 
from  four  to  eight  Parisian  sous  the  foot.  In  the 
document  which  contains  an  account  of  these  windows, 
there  is  also  a  charge  for  ^^  taking  down,  washing,  and 
replacing  several  panes  of  glass,  painted  and  reco^ 
loured,  in  the  chamber  of  Louis  Monseigneur  de 
Bourbon."  This  makes  it  probable  that  the  glass  had 
been  fixed  in  the  windows  for  some  time,  since  it  had 
become  necessary  to  wash  and  recolour  it  It  also 
suggests  the  idea  that  these  paintings  were  not  executed 
with  enamel  or  vitrified  colours,  which  would  not  have 
required  recolouring,  but  probably  with  pigments  mixed 
with  egg  or  oil. 

It  appears  from  recent  archaeological  researches  that 
many  of  the  royal  residences  in  England  had  glazed 
windows  in  the  thirteenth  century.  In  the  twentieth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Third  (1235-6),  the 
windows  of  the  chapel  and  hall  of  Winchester,  and 
some  of  the  chambers,  were  glazed.*  The  accounts  of 
Rockingham  Castle  for  the  year  1279  also  contain 
an  entry  of  payment  "  for  glazing  the  windows,  5a*** 
It  is  probable  that  the  dwellings  of  the  nobility  were 
furnished  with  glass  windows  in  the  fourteenth  century, 


1  Hal]am*8  Midd.  Ages,  vul.  iii.  p.  425. 

s  Between  1399  and  1429.  See  *  Louis  et  Charles,  Dues  d'Orldans, 
leur  Influence  sur  les  Arts,  la  Litt^rature,  et  TEsprit  de  leur  Si^Ie,  d'apr^ 
les  Documents  Origiiiaux  et  les  Peintures  des  Manuscrits.  Par  Aim6 
Champollion-Figeac  (de  la  Biblioth^ue  Royalc).  Paris,  1844/  This 
extremely  interesting  publication  is  very  scarce,  the  work  having  been  sup- 
pressed. 

3  Archaeological  Journal  for  1845,  p.  54,  74. 

4  Ibid.,  Jan.  1845,  p.  370. 


■-«l'-     '  •« 


CHAP.  IV.]  WINDOWS.  Ixxix 

since  they  are  mentioned  in  a  description  of  the  inte- 
rior of  a  castle  in  a  MS.  of  the  fifteenth  century  ^  (in 
the  public  library  at  Cambridge),  containing  the  metri- 
cal romance  of  Sir  Degrevant : — 

^*  Square  windows  of  glas 
The  richest  that  ever  was, 
Tho  moynells  (mullions)  was  off  bras. 
Made  with  menne  handes." 

Glass,  however,  was  not  in  common  use  in  England 
until  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth  '*  but  it  appears 
to  have  been  employed  for  windows  in  Vienna  during 
the  fifteenth  century,  -^neas  Sylvius  mentions  that 
the  houses  in  that  city  had  glass  windows  and  iron 
doors.' 

During  the  middle  ages,  glass  windows,  instead  of 
being  affixed  to  the  buildings,  were  firequently  fastened 
into  wooden  firames ;  they  were  considered  as  moveable 
fiimiture,  and  were  removed  with  the  other  effects  of 
families  when  they  travelled.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the 
family  at  the  mansion,  the  glazed  frames,  or  verrinse, 
were  placed  in  the  windows,  where,  they  remained 
during  the  residence  of  the  family,  and  on  their  depar- 
ture they  were  taken  out  and  laid  by  carefiiUy.*  A 
passage  in  Yasari's  Life  of  Guglielmo  de  Marcillat 
proves  that  this  custom  of  using  moveable  windows  pre- 
vailed in  France  and  Italy  until  the  beginning  of  the 
suLteenth  century.  Vasari  says  that  at  this  period  Pope 
Julius  the  Second  commissioned  Bramante  of  Urbino 
to  make  many  glazed  windows  in  the  palace ;  and  while 
the  latter  was  making  inquiries  for  persons  skilled  in 
this  art,  he  was  shown  a  specimen  of  one  belonging  to 
the  French  ambassador  at  the  Papal  court  This, 
which  he  had  used  for  the  window  of  his  study,  con- 

1  Arch.  Joorn.,  Sept.  1844. 

>  Hallam's  Midd.  Ages,  toI.  iii.  p.  426.  >  Ibid. 

4  Northumberland  Household  Book,  Preface,  p.  16,  quoted  in  Hallam's 
Midd.  Ages,  toI.  iii.  p.  426. 


I 


Ixxx  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ir. 

sisted  of  a  piece  of  white  glass  fixed  in  a  frame  (telaro), 
on  which  was  painted  a  figure  with  an  infinite  variety 
of  colours  burnt  in  by  the  action  of  fire. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  inferred,  because  the  glasses 
were  moveable,  that  the  windows  of  houses  were  destitute 
of  any  protection  from  the  weather.  The  Bolognese 
MS.^  describes  no  less  than  three  contrivances  for  ex- 
cluding the  air,  softening  the  light,  and  concealing  the 
inmates  of  the  houses  from  the  gaze  of  passengers  in 
the  streets.  The  three  methods  described  in  this  MS. 
were  probably  for  the  windows  of  the  nobility,  for  it  is 
unlikely  that  private  individuals  would  incur  the  ex- 
pense of  painting  these  substitutes  for  glass  in  the 
manner  described.  The  first  substitute  was  thin  parch- 
ment stretched  on  a  frame,  and  aflierwards  painted  and 
varnished;  the  second  consisted  also  of  parchment, 
painted  as  before,  but  instead  of  varnish,  a  coat  of 
linseed  oil  was  applied  to  make  it  transparent;  the 
third  consisted  of  linen,  stretched  on  a  frame,  and  then 
painted.  When  dry,  a  coat  of  white  of  egg  and  gum 
water  was  applied,  and  it  was  then  varnished.  It  is 
not  at  all  improbable  that  some  of  the  early  trans- 
parent paintings  executed  in  Germany,  France,  and 
England,  may  have  been  intended,  and  used  occasion- 
ally, instead  of  glass  for  windows. 

In  France,  paper  was  much  employed  as  a  substitute 
for  glass  in  domestic  architecture  even  at  a  late  period. 
Le  Vieil  *  devotes  a  chapter  of  his  work  to  this  subject. 
He  says  that  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
the  persons  whose  business  it  was  to  fix  the  paper  in 
the  windows  were  called  "  chassissiers,"  and  the  glazier 
who  repaired  or  cleaned  the  glazed  windows  on  the 
inside  of  the  apartments  of  the  palace  and  its  de- 
pendences left  to  the  chassissier  the  care  of  renewing 
the  double   windows  of  paper.     From  this  it  seems 

1  No8.  214,  216,  216.  «  Dc  la  Peinture  sur  Vcire,  p.  2S5. 


■i«v^Mii!E=anKV9«9^ 


CHAP.  !▼.]  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  Ixxxi 

probable  that  glass  windows  were  limited  to  the  habita- 
tions of  the  higher  ranks,  and  that  these  windows  were 
further  defended  with  other  windows,  the  frames  of 
which  were  filled  with  paper.  In  Le  Vieil's  time  these 
paper  windows  were  found  only  in  the  studios  of 
painters  and  engravers,  who  found  them  useful  in 
diminishing  the  noise  from  the  street.  The  light  which 
passed  through  them  was  more  equal,  and  less  fatiguing 
to  the  sight  He  adds  there  was  no  place  of  study  or 
religious  community,  the  windows  of  which  were  not 
defended  by  double  casements  filled  with  paper :  these 
had  also  the  additional  recommendation  of  afibrding  an 
obstacle  to  the  indiscretion  and  curiosity  of  those 
within,  as  well  as  without  At  Lyons  they  were  used 
constantly  in  the  time  of  Le  Vieil  in  the  silk  manu- 
factories, where  they  were  found  to  yield  a  more 
uniform  light  than  glass.  In  France,  the  paper,  after 
being  fixed  in  the  windows,  was  made  transparent  by 
the  application  of  poppy  oil,  or  mutton  suet,  instead  of 
which  some  persons  whose  olfactory  nerves  were  more 
susceptible,  employed  wax.  Paper  windows  being  con- 
stantly exposed  to  the  rain,  the  sun,  and  the  wind, 
required  to  be  renewed  annually,  and  were  conse- 
quently found  more  expensive  than  glass ;  this  perhaps 
was  a  principal  cause  of  their  falling  into  disuse. 

These  paper  windows  may  still  be  seen  in  many 
villages  in  the  north  of  Italy. 

§  d.  Various  Methods  of  Painting  on  Glass. 

The  origin  of  painting  on  glass,  properly  so  called,  is 
involved  in  obscurity.  Le  Vieil,  as  has  been  before 
observed,  attributes  it  to  the  French  in  the  eleventh 
century.  It  appears  certain,  however,  that  it  was 
known  and  practised  at  Constantinople  in  the  preceding 
century.  Perhaps  the  earliest  historical  notice  yet 
recorded  of  painting  on  glass,  is  the  portrait  of  Con- 

VOL.  I.  / 


Ixxxii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  it. 

fitantine  VII.,  which  the  Arab  historian,  Ibn  Hayyan, 
states  was  presented  by  the  ambassadors  of  that  Prince 
in  949  to  Abdurrahman  at  Cordova.  Ibn  Hayyan 
relates  that  the  ambassadors  of  Constantine,  son  of  Leo^ 
Lord  of  Constantinah  the  Great  (Constantinople),  pre- 
sented to  the  Moorish  prince  a  letter,  of  which  he  gives 
the  following  description: — 

^^  It  was  written  on  sky-blue  paper,  and  the  charac^ 
ters  were  of  gold.  Within  the  letter  was  an  enclosure, 
the  ground  of  which  was  sky-blue  like  the  first,  but  the 
characters  were  of  silver:  it  was  likewise  written  in 
Greek,  and  contained  a  list  of  the  presents  which  the 
Lord  of  Constantinah  sent  to  the  Khalif ;  on  the  letter 
was  a  seal  of  gold  of  the  weight  of  four  mithkals,  on 
one  side  of  which  was  a  likeness  of  the  Messiah,  and  on 
the  other  diose  of  King  Constantine  and  his  son*  The 
letter  was  enclosed  in  a  bag  of  silver  cloth,  over  which 
was  a  case  of  gold,  with  a  portrait  of  King  Constantine 
admirably  executed  on  stained  glass.  All  this  was  en- 
closed in  a  case  covered  with  cloth  of  silk  and  gold 
tissue.  On  the  first  line  of  the  Inwan  or  introduction 
was  written,  ^Constantine  and  Romanin  (Bomanus), 
believers  in  the  Messiah,  kings  of  the  Greeks ;'  and  in 
the  next,  ^To  the  great  and  exalted  in  dignity  and 
power,  as  he  most  deserves,  the  noble  in  descent,  Ab- 
durrahman the  khalif  who  rules  over  the  Arabs  of 
Andalus ;  may  God  preserve  his  life  I  * "  * 

In  the  absence  of  all  information  relative  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  this  portrait  was  painted,  conjectures  must 
be  useless;  it  is  sufficient  for  the  present  purpose  to 


I  The  description  of  Ibn  Hayyan  is  quoted  by  the  Arab  historian.  A! 
Makkari,  in  his  History  of  the  Mohammedan  Dynasties  in  Spain.  The 
work  has  been  tranalated,  with  criticBl  Notes,  by  Pascual  de  Gayangos,  iate 
Professor  of  Arabic  in  the  Athenaeum  of  Madrid.  Printed  for  the  Oriental 
Translation  Fund,  2  rols.  4to.  1840-43.  See  Blackwood*8  Mag.,  yoI.  54, 
p.  442,  where  the  account  of  the  visit  of  the  ambassadors  to  AbdurFahman 
is  given  at  length. . 


CHAP.  TV.}  PAINTINO  ON  OLASS.  Ixxxiil 

establish  l^e  faet  thai;  a  porti*ait  wad  actually  painted  on 
glasB  at  Constantinople  and  sent  to  Spain  as  early  as  the 
year  949. 

It  is  generally  eoiteidered  that  the  earliest  glazed 
windows  were  filled  with  stained  glass,  ^  for  it  is  said  to 
require  more  skill  to  make  colourless  glass  than  to  tinge  it 
with  some  of  the  ordinary  colours.  The  pieces  of  stained 
glass  of  which  tiie  early  windows  were  composed  were 
small,  and  they  were  arranged  in  a  kind  of  mosaic 
pattern.  The  next  improvement  consisted  in  forming 
pieces  of  stained  glass  into  figures,  the  outlines  and 
strong  shades  of  which  were  afterwards  formed  with 
black,"  and  fixed  by  the  heat  of  the  furnace.  This 
kind  of  semi-painting  afterwards  gave  place  to  painting 
on  glass,  properly  so  called.  This  was  executed  in 
varioos  ways.  The  colours  were  sometimes  diluted  with 
white  of  egg,*  and  sometimes  mixed  with  oil,  and  then 
▼amished/  But  as  it  was  found  that  in  both  kinds  of 
painting,  the  colours  were  afiected  by  the  weather,  a 
new  plan  was  adopted  of  employing  vitrified  colours  or 
enamels,  which  were  applied  to  the  glass  with  gum 
water,  and  then  fixed  by  burning  them  into  the  glass  in 
the  fiimace.  This  method  of  painting  is  described  by 
Eraclius  and  Theophilus.  The  invention  is  generally 
ascribed  to  the  Flemings  or  Germans.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  Italy  was  supplied  with  these  coloured 
glasses  or  '^smalti**^  by  some  transalpine  nation;  the 
Marciana  MS.  states  that  they  were  brought  from 
Germany.* 

1  See  Theoph.,  £.  Ed.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  zzix. 

s  The  black  used  for  Uiia  purpose  b  described  by  Eraclius,  Lib.  ii.  No. 
20,  Lib.  ill.  Nos.  S  and  49 ;  the  MS.  of  the  Marciana,  No.  326 ;  Bulcnge- 
ras  de  Pictuia,  ftc* 

s  See  Marciana  MS.,  p.  616. 

A  Ibid.    See  also  the  Paduan  MS.)  p.  693. 

«  The  smalti  of  the  modem  Italians  consist  of  pieces  of  gla^,  about )  an 
inch  tiiidc,  and  6  or  S  inches  in  diameter. 

•  See  the  MaroanaMS.,  p.  617. 

/2 


Ixxxiv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  it. 

The  method  of  painting  on  glass  practised  by  611- 
glielmo  de  Marcillat  and  his  pupils  has  been  described 
by  Vasati.     The  following  is  a  condensed  account  of  it 

To  produce  a  good  picture  on  glass,  three  things  were 
considered  necessary,  namely,  a  luminous  transparency 
in  the  glass  selected,  good  composition,  and  brilliant 
colouring  without  confusion.  Transparency  was  to  be 
secured  by  selecting  the  clearest  glass^  and  in  this 
respect  the  French,  English,  and  Flemish  glass  was 
preferable  to  the  Venetian ;  for  the  former  was  very 
clear,  whilst  the  latter  was  dark;  "and,"  observes 
Vasari,  "  when  clear  glass  is  shaded,  the  light  is  not 
totally  lost,  but  appears  through  the  shadows;  but 
Venetian  glass,  being  naturally  dark,  and  being  made 
still  darker  by  the  shadows,  loses  its  transparency. 
Many  persons  delight  in  loading  the  colours  artificially 
applied  upon  the  surface,  which  being  exposed  to  the 
sun  and  air,  appear  more  beautiful  than  the  natural 
colours ;  it  is  better,  however,  that  the  glass  should  be 
light  rather  than  dark,  that  it  may  not  be  rendered 
opaque  by  the  thickness  of  the  colour." 

To  paint  on  glass  it  is  necessary  to  be  provided  with 
a  cartoon,  on  which  are  drawn  the  outlines  of  the  figure, 
and  of  the  folds  of  the  drapery,  which  will  serve  as  a 
guide  in  joining  the  glass.  The  various  pieces  of  red, 
yellow,  blue,  and  white  glass  are  then  arranged  in  their 
places  as  required ;  and  in  order  to  reduce  each  piece 
to  the^  form  and  size  indicated  by  the  cartoon,  the 
pieces  are  laid  upon  the  cartoon  and  the  outline  marked 
with  a  pencil  full  of  white  lead,  and  a  number  is  affixed 
to  each  piece  in  order  to  find  its  place  more  readily 
when  uniting  the  various  fragments.  These  numbers 
are  obliterated  when  the  painting  is  finished.  This 
being  done,  the  pieces  of  glass  must  be  cut  according 
to  the  form  and  size  required ;  for  this  purpose,  the 
point  of  an  emerald  must  be  drawn  along  the  part  to  be 
cut,  and  the  division  must  be  completed  by  passing  a 


CHAP.  IV.]  PAINTING  ON  GLASS.  IxXXV 

pointed  piece  of  hot  iron  over  the  outline  (which  is  to 
be  first  moistened  with  saliva),  being  careful  not  to  go 
too  near  to  it.  The  superfluous  glass  is  then  to  be 
removed  with  the  emerald,*  and  the  pieces  of  glass 
reduced  to  the  exact  size  and  shape,  by  filing  them  with 
an  iron  tool  called  "  grisatoio  "  or  **  topo,"  until  they 
fit  together  accurately.  The  cartoon  being  laid  on  a 
table,  and  the  pieces  of  glass  thus  fitted  and  laid  upon 
it,  the  shades  of  the  drapery  must  be  painted  with 
scales  of  iron  ground,  and  another  sort  of  red  rust  found 
in  iron  mines,  or  the  hard  red  haematite  ground,  and 
with  this  the  flesh  is  shaded,  using  more  or  less  red  or 
black  as  required.'  But  in  painting  flesh,  the  glass 
should  be  previously  covered  with  a  coat  of  this  red, 
and  the  drapery  should  be  painted  with  the  black,  in 
the  same  manner  tempering  the  colour  with  gum,  and 
painting  and  shading  it  by  degrees  until  it  resembles 
the  cartoon.  The  painting  being  completed,  in  order 
to  produce  the  high  lights,  a  short  and  thin  pencil  of 
bristles,  with  which  the  colour  is  removed  firom  the 
lights,  is  necessary.  The  high  lights  in  the  beards, 
hair,  draperies,  casements,  and  landscapes  are  to  be 
produced  by  marking  them  out  with  the  handle  of  the 
brush.  There  are,  however,  many  diflSculties  in  ex- 
ercising this  art,  and  he  who  delights  in  it  may  lay 
various  colours  on  the  glass ;  for  if  it  be  required  to 
paint  on  a  red  ground  a  leaf  or  other  small  object, 
which,  after  being  in  the  fiirnace,  should  become  of 
another  colour,  the  surface  of  the  painted  glass  may  be 
ground  away  within  the  outlines  of  the  leaf  with  the 


1  It  18  evident,  from  the  Bolognese  MS.,  p.  496,  that  the  diamond  was 
used  for  cutting  glass  long  previous  to  the  time  of  Vasari.  It  appears,  how- 
ever, not  to  have  been  used  for  this  purpose  in  France  until  the  time  of 
Francis  I.  (if  the  story  related  by  Le  Vieil  be  tnie),  and- this  will  account 
for  the  emerald  being  used  by  Guglielmo  de  Marcillat  and  his  pupils. 

s  In  addition  to  the  haematite,  Guglielmo  de  Marcillat  is  said  to  have 
used  for  the  flesh,  scales  of  copper  (scaglia  di  rame). 


btxXTi  INTROIXJCTION.  icmAT.  nt. 

iron  point,  which  remoyes  Ihe  mirfaee  of  the  glass ;  for 
by  so  doing,  the  glass  remains  white,  and  that  red 
colour  (ccmiposed  of  several  mixtares),  which,  wh^i 
iuaed  by  heat  becomes  yellow,  is  applied  to  it*  And 
thia  may  be  done  with  all  the  odours,  but  yellow 
is  better  when  applied  over  white  than  over  other 
colours  ;  but  when  blue  is  laid  on  it,  it  becomes  green 
by  the  application  of  heaf^  because  yeUow  and  blue 
mixed,  make  green.  This  yellow  colour'  can  be  used 
only  on  the  back  of  the  painting,  because  by  fusing,  it 
would  spoil  and  unite  with  that  colour,  which  being 
heated  remains  red  on  the  surface,  but  which  being 
rasped  away  with  an  iron,  leaves  tibe  yellow  visible. 
The  pieces  of  glass  being  painted,  they  should  be  placed 
in  a  muffle  or  cofin,  coi  a  layer  of  sifted  ashes  mired 
with  burnt  lime,  then  another  layer  of  glass,  and  another 
of  ashes,  until  all  the  glass  is  disposed  of;  the  whole  is 
then  to  be  placed  in  the  furnace,  and  heated  gradually 
by  a  slow  fire,  until  the  colours  are  fused  azid  become 
fixed  to  the  glass.  This  burning  in  of  the  colours  re- 
quires the  greatest  caution,  for  if  the  heat  be  too  great 
it  will  cause  the  glass  to  crack,  and  if  insufficient  it 
will  not  fix^  the  colours.  Neither  should  the  glass  be 
withdrawn,  until  by  repea^ted  trials  it  is  ascertained  that 
the  iron  coffin  and  the  ashes  are  red  hot,  and  that  the 
colours  are  fused. 

The  windows  of  the  Duomo  of  Milan  were  once  filled 
with  painted  glass  of  the  greatest  brilliancy  ;  much  still 
remains,  but  a  great  quantity  was  destroyed  by  the 
French,  who  it  is  said,  on  some  occasion  of  rejoicing. 


1  From  this  deicriptbn  it  ia  aj^parent  that  the  colours  wei«  "  flashed  ^ 
on  the  colourless  glass.  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  case  with  the  red 
glass,  which  was  found  among  the  ruins  of  old  St.  Paul 'ft  ia  London.  See 
Boyle's  Philosophical  Essays^  vol.  i.  p.  458. 

>  In  the  Life  of  Guglielmo  de  MarcUkt,^  this  is  said  to,  he  calcined  sOveff. 


GBAP.  IT.]        USES  TO  WHICH  GLASS  WAS  APPLIED.  Ixxxvii 

plaeed  cannon  in  the  piazza  immediately  under  the 
windows,  which  were  shattered  by  the  discharge.^         * 

The  restoration  of  the  painted  glass  has  however  been 
undertaken  by  the  Austrian  Government,  and  several 
of  the  windows,  including  those  very  large  ones  in  the 
apsis,  have  again  been  filled  with  glass  painted  in  the 
vicinity  of  Milan. 

The  original  windows  were  painted  in  the  ancient 
manner,  in  a  kind  of  mosaic  of  coloured  glass ;  the 
result  was  a  picture  of  the  utmost  brilliancy.  The 
roodern  glass  is  painted  with  coloured  "  smalti "  mixed 
with  some  flux  which  accelerates  the  fusion  and  fixes 
them  firmly  to  the  plate  of  glass  before  it  melts.' 

S  4.  Of  the  various  Uses  to  which  Glass  was  applied. 

Ano&er  important  application  of  glass  was  in  the 
composition  of  factitious  gems,  which  appear  to  have 
been  made,  not  for  the  purpose  of  personal  decoration, 
but  for  adorning  covers  of  sacred  books,  reliquaries,* 
and  pictures  of  the  Virgin  and  saints.  It  is  not,  there- 
fore, surprising  that  so  many  recipes  of  this  kind  should 
occur  in  MSS.  belonging  to  convents.  Bibles  and 
psalters  were  frequently  bound  in  ivory  covers,  beauti- 
ffally  carved,  and  mlaid  with  artificial  gems,  the  surfaces 
of  which  are  always  smooth,  from  their  having  been 
formed  in  moulds,  and  not  cut.  Sometimes  the  covers 
of  books  were  of  silver,  or  silver-gilt ;  sometimes  they 
were  solid,  and  carved  in  relief;  sometimes  they  con- 
sisted of  a  sort  of  filigree-work  in  silver,  over  crimson 
velvet ;  and  sometimes  they  were  covered  with  velvet, 


1  Murray's  Guide  for  North  Italy. 

<  IKzioiuulo  delle  Invenzione  e  Sooperto  nelle  Arti,  nelle  Scienze,  ^c, 
Hilano,  1S30.     Art  Pittora. 

«  A  reliquary  of  brass  gilt,  set  with  false  stones,  wss  exhibited  by  Mr. 
Way  at  the  meeting  of  the  Arcbseolotrical  Institute  at  Winchester,  in  1845. 
It  «M  of  tbe  Dth  century,  and  was  of  French  vorknanship. 


Ixxxyiii  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  vr. 

and  strengthened  and  ornamented  with  silver  or  gold 
studs. 

The' application  of  factitious  gems  to  pictures  was 
common.  They  are  expressly  mentioned  by  Cennini^ 
who  describes  the  method  of  attaching  them  to  the 
pictures ;  and  they  may  be  frequently  seen  on  paint- 
ings executed  in  Italy  during  the  middle  ages.  The 
most  remarkable  picture  decorated  with  these  gems 
is  one  by  Carlo  CriveDi,  in  the  gallery  of  Brera, 
at  Milan.  The  picture  is  highly  interesting,  not  only 
on  this  account,  but  because  several  portions  of  it  are 
in  relief.  It  is  not  less  remarkable  for  the  extreme 
brilliancy  of  the  colours^  which  are  as  bright  as  if  just 
painted.  The  picture  is  divided  into  three  compart- 
ments. The  centre  contains  the  Virgin  and  Child ;  on 
the  right  hand  are  St.  Peter  and  St.  Dominic ;  and  on 
the  left  St  Peter  Martyr  and  St.  Geminiano.  The 
surface  of  each  compartment  is  slightly  convex,  rising 
about  one  inch  or  one  inch  and  a  half  in  the  centre 
of  each  compartment;  it  is  quite  perfect,  without  a 
flaw  of  any  kind.  The  figures  are  placed  on  a  gold 
ground.  St  Peter  has  on  his  head  the  papal  crown, 
the  gilded  ornaments  of  which  are  in  high  relief; 
and  it  is  set  with  precious  stones,  or  rather  imitations 
of  such.  The  keys  are  in  his  hand,  and  these  are 
actually  modelled,  the  stem-part  of  the  keys  being  quite 
round,  and  merely  attached  by  a  small  part  of  tiie 
surface  to  the  picture ;  the  other  key  lies  on  this,  so 
that  here  the  relief  must  be  at  least  one  inch  and  a 
half  The  keys  are  gilded.  The  mantle  of  the  Virgin 
is  fastened  with  a  gold  or  gilt  ornament,  in  which  a 
sapphire  is  set  The  drapery  of  St.  Geminiano  is 
painted  to  represent  crimson  velvet,  on  which  is  a 
collar  of  gold,  set  with  real  or  factitious  pearls,  some 
of  which  having  dropped  ofl^  show  small  holes  made 
in  the  panel  to  receive  them. 

The  picture  by  the  same  artist,  placed  next  to  this  in 


cam*.  !▼.]        USES  TO  WHICH  GLASS  WAS  APPLIED.  Ixxxix 

the  same  gallery,  is,  in  some  respects,  a  contrast  to  it. 
The  colours  are  as  brilliant  as  those  in  the  former 
picture,  and  the  ground  also  is  of  gold ;  but  the  glories, 
instead  of  being  in  relief,  are  indented,  and  the  jewels, 
with  which  the  mitre  is  decorated,  are  painted,  instead 
of  being  actually  affixed  to  the  picture.  The  artist  has 
given  as  much  transparency  and  brilliancy  to  these  as 
if  they  were  actually  inlaid,  like  those  in  the  picture 
above  mentioned.  The  period  of  the  birth  of  Crivelli 
is  unknown,  but  he  was  living  in  1476. 

Sacramental  cups,  both  of  metal  and  of  glass,  were 
also  frequently  set  with  gems,  real  or  factitious ;  hence 
the  directions  given  in  old  MSS.  for  cements  for  gems. 
It  is  certain  that  glass  was  in  use  in  Italy  for  drinking- 
vessels  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Glass 
drinking-vessels  are  firequently  mentioned  by  Cennini, 
who  calls  them  by  the  name  by  which  they  are  still 
known  in  Italy — bicchieri.  Representations  of  them, 
of  the  same  shape  as  those  now  in  use,  may  be  seen 
in  early  Italian  pictures  of  the  Last  Supper,  and 
particularly  in  the  Cenacolo  of  Lionardo  da  Vinci. 
Glass  vessels  were  frequently  embossed,  or  enamelled, 
with  the  armorial  bearings  of  their  owners,  some- 
times parcel  gilt,  sometimes  set  with  jewels,  and 
occasionally  they  bore  designs  of  high  pretension.^ 
The  museum  of  antiquities  of  the  middle  ages  in  the 
Louvre,  and  in  the  Hotel  de  Cluny,  at  Paris,  afibrd 
many  interesting  specimens  of  glass  of  the  middle  ages, 
enriched  with  enamels  and  jewels.  The  drinking- 
vessels  and  flasks,  executed  at  Murano,  were  particu- 
larly esteemed.  Many  beautifiil  specimens  of  the  latter 
are  in  the  possession  of  the  Marquess  Trivulzio,  at 
Milan. 

It  is  generally  considered  that  the  art  of  colouring 
glass  was  introduced  from  the  East  into  Venice.     The 

■  Arch.  Journ.,  Sept.,  1845,  p.  264. 


xc  INTRODUCTION.  [cbaf.  it. 

time  of  its  introduction  is  uncertain,  but  it  is  known 
diat  as  early  as  the  commencement  of  tiie  twelfth 
century  the  manufacture  of  what  is  called  crystal^  and 
the  art  of  colouring  glass,  were  carried  on  at  Venice,* 
The  mirrors  and  other  works  executed  in  glass  in  this 
city  were,  during  tiie  middle  ages,  the  finest  works  of 
the  kind ;  and  the  flasks  and  other  small  articles  were 
much  sought  after,  not  only  in  Europe,  but  also  in 
Asia,  and  ^ven  in  the  deserts  of  Africa.'  Murano 
was,  during  four  or  five  centuries,  the  seat  of  this 
manufacture,  which  the  Venetians  knew  how  to  T«ry 
according  to  the  taste  of  the  times,  and  for  which  they 
found  a  ready  market  in  the  countries  of  the  East 
As  long  ago  as  1 275  there  was  a  law  mentioned  in  the 
Chronicle  of  Dandolo,  which  prohibited  tiie  exportation, 
not  only  of  sand  and  the  other  substances  used  in  the 
fabrication  of  glass  from  Venice,  but  also  of  the  frag* 
ments  of  broken  glass,  which  odier  nations  might  melt 
and  fashion  into  new  forms.  It  seems  that  there  were 
formerly  large  masses  of  glass,  which  were  employed 
in  the  factories.'  Filiasi  supposes  that  they  were 
brought  from  Greece,  where  the  composition  of  glass 
had  attained  a  certain  degree  of  perfection.  By  an 
ancient  Venetian  law  masters  of  vessels  were  permitted 
to  import  these  masses  of  glass  as  ballast  Sabellino 
speaks  with  admiration  of  the  works  executed  at  the 
commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century  in  the  glass- 
works at  Murano. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  no  work  should  be 
known  to  exist  in  which  the  art  of  making  glass,  as 
practised  at  Murano,  is  accurately  described.  All  in- 
quiries for  such  a  work  are,  however,  rendered  useless 
by  the  fact  that  the  workmen  at  Murano  have  always 


1  Depping,  Histoire  du  Commerce^  &c.,  vol.  i.  p.  191. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.  p.  322,  n. 

'  Arc  these  the  masBes  of  glass  mentioned  by  Eraclius,  p.  208,  210? 


OAP.  XV.]       USES  TO  WHICH  GLASS  WAS  APPLIED.  XCl 

been  sworn  to  preserve  seerecy  with  respect  to  all 
technical  processes.' 

Muoh  information^  however,  relative  to  this  subject, 
will  be  found  scattered  through  the  pages  of  Neri's 
*  Arte  Vetraria,*  and  the  Commentary  on  this  work 
by  Dr.  Merret,  an  Englishman,  Cardanus  mentions  a 
Venetian  MS.  on  the  numufacture  of  glass,  which  fell 
into  his  hands.  This  would  undoubtedly  be  a  great 
acquisition  if  it  could  be  discovered.  It  was  said  to 
have  been  written  by  a  Venetian  named  Fanteo. 

Besides  the  uses  already  enumerated,  glass  was  em* 
ployed  in  making  beads  for  paternosters,  a  manufacture 
which  is  still  carried  on  to  a  great  extent  at  Murano. 
But  the  favourite  material  of  which  the  beads  or  rosa- 
ries used  in  the  middle  ages  were  composed,  appears  to 
have  been  amber.'  The  scarcity  and  high  price  of 
genuine  amber  placing  it  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
people  generally,  various  attempts  were  made  to  imi- 
tate it;  hence  the  numerous  recipes  in  old  MSS.  for 
**  making  amber  for  paternosters  ;'*  and  hence  also  the 
adoption  of  the  term  "  amber  **  as  a  synonyme  for 
beads,  in  which  sense  it  is  frequently  used  in  the 
Bolognese  MS.,'  where  we  find  directions  for  colouring 
the  composition  red,  green,  or  blue,  at  jdeasure.  This 
fact  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  estimation  in  which 
amber  was  held  during  the  middle  ages.  Genuine 
amber  was  so  highly  prized  that  a  statue  of  the  Virgin 
made  of  this  material,  and  a  set  of  altar  iurniture  in 


)  Gallipftdo  Tdlier  (author  of  the  '  Nuovo  Plico  d*  ogni  sorte  di  Tia- 
tan%'  publUhed  at  Bologna  without  a  date)  observes  (p.  152),  that  '*  The 
red  colour  called  *  rubino/  which,  as  every  one  knows,  is  made  at  Murano, 
it  oootpoaed  of '  oro  di  leoebino/  but  few  are  acquainted  with  the  process  of 
combining  the  calcined  gold  with  the  liquid  crystal."  He  adds,  *^  The 
method  of  calcination  is,  however,  known  to  me,  but  it  is  not  lawful  for  mo 
to  discover  it/^ 

*  Secreti  di  Don  Alessio  Piemontese,  Part  ii.,  p.  35.  MS.  of  the  Mar- 
dana,  p.  609. 

>  Noa.  249—254. 


•  J 


xai  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  it. 

amber,  studded  with  jewels,*  were  considered  among  the 
treasures  of  the  Santa  Casa  at  Loreto.  At  the  meet- 
ing of  the  English  ArchaBological  Society  in  1845,  a 
necklace  of  rough  amber  was  exhibited,  which  was 
found  round  the  neck  of  a  skeleton  near  Ely,  and  which 
was  supposed  to  be  of  the  Romano-British  period.* 

Another  art  practised  during  the  middle  ages  was 
the  manufacture  of  artificial  pearls  from  the  bones  of 
the  heads  of  fish,  from  mother-of-pearl,  and '  other  sub- 
stances; many  recipes  for  these  occur  in  MSS.,'  as 
well  as  for  making  large  pearls  out  of  small  ones. 
Beckmann  treats  these  inventions  with  contempt,  and 
thinks  it  impossible  to  give  to  any  pulverized  calcareous 
matter  the  hardness  and  lustre  of  real  pearls.  The 
varnish  of  caseum,  mixed  with  the  milk  of  the  fig-tree, 
described  in  the  Bolognese  MS.,  No.  245,  is  certainly 
curious,  and  perhaps  may  hereafter  receive  a  trial. 


NOTE  ON  JEWISH  GLASS. 


It  would  appear,  on  the  authority  of  the  third  book  of  Eradius  (p.  245), 
that  lead-glass  (see  Eraclius,  p.  217)  was  called  Jewish  glass.  I  have 
mentioned  in  the  note  to  this  passage,*  that  a  ruby-coloured  glass  was  for- 
merly sold  at  Birmingham  under  the  name  of  Jews'  glass ;  the  coincidence 
was  at  least  curious,  but  facts  were  wanting  to  establish  any  connection 
between  the  Jewish  glass  of  the  middle  ages  and  the  modem  '*  Jews' 
glass.'*  It  is  known  that  the  manufacture  of  glass  was  pursued  extensively 
by  the  Jews  during  the  dark  and  middle  ages.  There  were  Jewish  glass- 
blowers  at  Constantinople  between  a.d.  531  and  565.  This  is  proved 
incidentally  by  the  following  narrative,  related  in  the  *  History  of  the 
Jews  :'t — 

'*  It  was  the  custom  of  the  Church  to  distribute  the  crumbs  of  the  conse- 
crated host  which  might  remun  to  children  summoned  for  that  purpose 


I  It  contained  nearly  7000  pearls,  besides  diamonds  and  rubies,  and  was 
valued  at  200,000  crowns. 

^  Archaeological  Journal  for  1845,  p.  xlii. 

3  See  Secreti  d'l  Don  Alessio,  Part  ii.,  p.  35.  Bol.  MS.,  Nos.  246, 
264,  320.  

*  P.  245.  t  Hist  of  the  Jews,  vol.  iii.  p.  230. 


CHAP.  IV.]  JEWISH  GLASS.  XClli 

from  their  schools.  While  Menas  was  Bishop  of  Constantinople,  the  child 
of  a  Jewish  glass-blower  went  to  the  church  with  the  rest,  and  partook  of 
the  sacred  elements.  The  father,  inquiring  the  cause  of  his  delay,  discovered 
what  he  had  done.  In  his  fury  he  seized  him  and  shut  him  up  in  the 
blazing  furnace.  The  mother  went  wandering  about  the  city,  wailing  and 
seeking  her  lost  ofl&pring.  The  third  day  she  sat  down  by  the  door  of  the 
woikshop,  still  weeping,  and  calling  on  the  name  of  her  child.  The  child 
answered  from  the  furnace,  the  doors  were  forced  open,  and  the  child  was 
discovered  ntting  unhurt  amid  the  red-hot  ashes.  His  account  was,  that  a 
lady  in  a  purple  robe,  of  course  the  Blessed  Virgin,  had  appeared,  and 
poured  water  on  the  coals  that  were  immediately  around  him.  The  unna- 
tmal  father  was  put  to  death,  the  mother  and  child  baptized." 

Filiasi  *  relates,  that  in  687  many  Greek  workmen  went  to  France  for 
the  purpose  of  working  in  glass.  It  is  probable  that  these  persons  practised 
the  art  after  the  same  methods  as  the  Jews,  and  that  they  made  the  pro- 
cesses known  in  France.  It  appears  that  the  Jews  carried  ou  the  art  in 
Syria  also.  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  whose  *  Travels '  bear  date  from  1160  to 
1 173,  states  that  he  found  400  Jews  resident  in  Tyre,  who  were  glass- 
blowers.  This  fact  certainly  shows  a  great  trade  in  this  branch  of  industry, 
and  may  be  considered  a  confirmation  of  the  assertion  that  the  soda  found 
at  Tyre  was  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  manufacture  of  glass.f  The  glass- 
works in  Syria  do  not  appear  to  have  been  confined  to  Tyre,  for  Miss 
Martineau  relates^  that  a  glass-house  still  exbts  at  Hebron.  The  glass 
made  here,  however,  appears  to  be  of  the  most  ordinary  description,  and  it 
aeems  that  the  workmen  are  Arabs,  and  not  Jews. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century  the  Venetians  traded  with  the 
ports  of  Egypt  and  Syria;  and  when,  in  1122,  the  King  of  Jerusalem 
requested  the  Venetian  navy  to  assist  him  at  the  siege  of  Tyre,  the  Vene- 
tians stipulated  for  the  possession  of  a  third  part  of  the  city,  and  the  pay- 
meut  of  an  annual  sum  of  300  besants.  In  the  fourteenth  century  the 
Venetians  bad  still  a  colony  at  Tyre.§  The  art  of  glass- making,  therefore, 
with  which  the  Venetians  are  supposed  to  have  been  acquainted  as  early  as 
the  eleventh  century,  may  have  been  communicated  to  them  by  the  Tynan 
Jews.    It  appears  certain  that  they  acquired  it  in  the  East. 

It  was  in  the  eleventh  century  tiiat  a  leaden  glaze  was,  as  I  have  men- 
tioned (p.  177),  first  found  on  European  pottery.  The  recipes  in  the 
MS.  of  Eradius  prove  that  lead-glass  was  known  in  some  parts  of  Europe 


*  Saggio  snll'  antico  Cknnmcrcio,  &c.,  p.  148,  n. 

t  Neri,  Arte  Vetraria;  lib.  i.  cap.  I,  and  lib.  vii.  cap.  117,  and  Merret's  notes 
€m  these  chapters.  The  Venetians  and  Genoese  had  both  setUements  at  Tjrre  in 
the  12th  century. 

I  •*  Next  we  were  conducted  to  a  glass-house,  of  all  odd  places  to  see  in  Heb- 
ron. I  would  recommend  a  Newcastie  one  in  preference,  as  there  the  glass  is  not 
g^reenish  and  thin,  and  the  articles  made  can  stand  upright.  We  thought  here 
as  before,  however,  that  the  Arabs  are  expert  enough  at  manual  arts  if  they  had 
fkir  play  with  tools  and  materials." — Eastern  Life,  vol.  iii.  p.  64. 

{  Depping,  Histoire  du  Commerce,  &c.,  vol.  i.,  p.  163,  quoting  Navigero,  Sto- 
ria  della  Repnbl.  Veneziana,  819 ;  in  vol.  xxiii.  of  Mnrat.,  Script.  Rer.  Ital., 
and  And.  Dandolo,  Chronic.  Venet,  ann  828,  in  vol.  xii.  of  the  same  work. 


ZCi?  INTBODUCnON.  [chap.  it. 

«l  least  88  eari J  ai  Um  thirteeDth  oentury ;  but  it  appeal  iliat  it  was  not 
g«nenJly  known  eren  at  a  later  period,*  fcr  Neri,  who  publiabed  hb  '  Arte 
Yetraria'  in  1612,  says  (lib.  iv.  cap.  Izi.)  it  was  a  secret  known  lo  but  few 
glass- workers,  *'  Cosa  nota  a  pocfai  delP  arte  vetraria.**  Merret,  tlw 
Bientator  on  Neri,  in  a  note  to  this  passage,  leanrks,  that  it  was  not  in 
in  England  on  account  of  its  want  of  durability.  Both  writers  speak  of  the 
extreme  beauty  of  the  cokmrs  of  the  factitious  gems  made  of  this  kind  of 
glass,  and  Neri  says  ''  that  it  is  the  most  beautiful  and  noble  kind  of  glaas 
that  is  made,  ibr  real  oriental  jewels  may  be  imitated  with  it;  whidi 
cannot  be  done  so  welt  with  crystal  or  any  other  kind  of  glass ;  but  if  greal 
care  is  not  taken,  it  is  so  extremely  funble,  that  it  will  run  through  the 
glass-potB,  and  be  lost  among  the  coals  used  in  heating  Hie  fiimace." 
From  these  facts,  therefore,  it  is  oonatdered  that  there  may  be  some  reason 
for  ascribing  the  intention,  or  at  least  the  introduction,  of  glass  oon« 
taining  lead,  &c.,  to  the  Jews,  and  at  the  same  time  of  supposing  that  the 
oorrect  reading  of  the  abote  passage  in  Eradius  has  been  giren. 


*  A  peculiar  kind  of  Venetian  glass*  containing  lead,  was  used  in  Italy  as  a 
dryer  for  certain  colours.    See  Mr.  Eastlake^s  '  Materials,'  &c,  p.  351. , 


CHAP.  T. 


:)  GILDING.  xcv 


CHAPTEB  V. 

GILDING  AND  OTHEE  ARTS. 
§  1.  On  Gilding. 

The  frequent  and  profuse  employment  of  gilding  in 
every  kind  of  decorative  work  in  the  middle  ages 
cannot  have  escaped  the  observation  of  the  most  super- 
ficial observer.  The  grounds  of  the  most  ancient 
mosaics  were  of  gold,  so  were  those  of  the  pictures  of 
the  Byzantine  and  early  Italian  schools.  The  early 
Italian  frescoes,  as  they  are  called,  were  adorned  with 
gold  leaf;  the  same  decoration  was  extended  to  minia- 
tures, and  afterwards  to  painting  in  oil,  and  the  use  of 
gilding  in  pictures  was  universal,  until  Domenico 
Ghirlandaio  discovered  the  method  of  imitating  gold 
with  colours.^  The  directions,  therefore,  of  all  old 
MSS.  on  painting  are  diiKise  and  minute  on  this  head, 
and  although  the  recipes  are  alike  in  principle,  there 
is  some  variety  in  the  details.  The  grounds  of  the 
ancient  gildings  were  of  two  kinds ;  one  of  which  was 
for  miniatures  and  places  not  exposed  to  damp;  the 
other  consisted  of  an  oil  mordant,  which  was  employed 
on  walls  and  places  exposed  to  humidity.  As  the 
gilding  on  many  old  mural  paintings  is  in  a  remark- 
able state  of  preservation,  it  becomes  important  to 
ascertain  the  manner  in  which  it  was  executed ;  and 
where  there  is  no  precise  documentary  evidence  to 
demonstrate  this,  it  is  desirable  to  have  recourse  to 
chemical  analysis. 

Under  this  impression.  Professor  Branchi,  of  Pisa, 

1  Vasari,  Vita  di  Domenico  Gliiriandaio. 


xcvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  y. 

analysed  some  portions  of  the  gold  ground  of  the  mural 
pictures  by  Benozzo  Gozzoli  and  Bufialmacco  in  that 
noble  relic  of  the  arts  and  genius  of  the  middle  ages, 
the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa.  Professor  Branchi  relates 
in  the  following  words  the  result  of  his  experiments  on 
this  subject.^ 

"  With  regard  to  the  ancient  method  of  gilding  in 
Pisa,  I  must  observe  that  my  experiments  have  not 
enabled  me  to  discover  any  essential  difference  between 
the  gilding  in  Pisa  and  that  of  the  picture  by  Taddeo 
Gaddi,  which  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  suppressed 
church  of  St.  Francesco. 

"  The  intonaco  is,  however,  white,  fine,  and  of  a 
thicker  consistence.  One  denaro  (grammi  1779) 
contained  gr.  II j  (grammi  0-576)  of  a  fine  white 
sand,  mixed  with  a  little  ai^Uaceous  earth. 

"  The  gilding  of  the  fi'agments  of  a  picture  by 
Buffalmacco  in  our  magnificent  Campo  Santo,  is 
spread  upon  a  layer  of  wax  of  the  thickness  of  about 
half  a  line.  This  yields  to  the  action  of  the  nail,  is 
slightly  transparent,  inflammable,  and  lighter  than 
water;  it  liquefies  at  a  low  heat,  is  soluble  in  boiling 
alcohol,  from  which  it  separates  on  cooling  in  the  form 
of  a  white  and  bulky  mass ;  it  gives  a  lustre  to  wood, 
and  being  thrown  upon  burning  charcoal,  it  diffiises 
sensibly  the  odour  of  wax,  which  cannot  be  mistaken 
for  any  other  substance.'  It  is  true  that  in  some  parts 
the  gold  is  seen  on  both  sides ;  from  this  I  conjecture 
that  this  gilding  was  executed  by  Buffalmacco,  either 
to  repair  some  part  already  gilded,  and  with  which  he 
was  not  satisfied,  or  it  was  a  reparation  made  at  a 
subsequent  period. 


1  Letteradel  Prof.  Branchi  al  Prof.  Ciampi,  &c.,  p.  18. 

s  **  In  making  the  above  experiments  I  had  no  indication  that  a  fixed  dry- 
ing oil  was  mixed  with  the  wax.  Among  the  various  mordants  which  painters 
were  accustomed  to  use  in  illuminating  with  gold,  is  that  which  is  composed 
chiefly  of  the  above-mentioned  substances."    [Note  bj  Prof.  Branchi.] 


CHAP,  v.]  GILDING.  XCVll 

"  The  gilding  of  those  small  fragments  which 
were  removed  from  one  of  the  numerous  pictures 
painted  by  the  celebrated  Benozzo  Gozzoli  in  the  same 
Campo  Santo  is  in  excellent  preservation.  The  gold 
being  removed  with  a  sharp  instrument,  discovers  a 
thin  layer,  not  opaque,  which  may  be  scraped  like  wax, 
and  which,  like  that  substance,  gives  a  lustre  to  wood 
on  which  it  is  rubbed.  Below  this  appears  a  yellowish 
tint,  which  penetrates  into  the  intonaco  to  a  small,  but 
not  always  uniform  depth.  When  the  gold  leaf  was 
separated  from  the  fragments  by  immersion  in  boiling 
distilled  water,  a  pellicle  of  wax  appeared  on  the 
surface. 

"  The  liquid  being  filtered,  and  afterwards  slightly 
evaporated,  acquired  a  yellowish  colour,  and  then 
formed  a  pellicle  which  differed  from  the  preceding, 
and  by  complete  evaporation  left  a  small  quantity  of 
combustible  matter — so  small  that  I  could  not  deter- 
mine its  nature. 

^^  From  these  experiments  it  appears  that  our  an- 
cient gilding  was  executed,  1st,  by  applying  on  the 
smooth  intonaco  a  kind  of  size,  that  is  a  liquid  and 
tenacious  substance,  soluble  in  water,  and  coloured 
yellow ;  2ndly,  by  applying  on  this  a  thin  coating  of 
wax ;  3rdly,  and  finally,  by  affixing  on  this  the  gold  leaf. 

^*  It  should  here  be  remarked  that  the  gold  leaves 
being  detached  without  having  sufiered  any  alteration 
in  consequence  of  the  liquefaction  of  the  wax,  gave  me 
an  opportunity  of  observing  how  much  thicker  they 
were  at  that  period  than  they  are  at  present.  From 
the  time  of  the  Romans  until  now  the  art  of  gold- 
beating  has  been  continually  progressing  towards  per- 
fection. From  one  ounce  of  this  metal  they  were 
accustomed  to  obtain  750  square  leaves  and  upwards, 
four  fingers  broad  on  each  side,*  which  is  certainly 

1  Plinjr,    lib.   xixiii.  c^p.  3.     Modern  goldbeaters  now  make   1200 

VOL.  I.  g 


XCVlll  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  t. 

below  the  number  of  those  of  equal  dimension  which 
our  best  goldbeaters  now  produce  from  the  same  quan- 
tity of  gold.  And  as  to  the  wax,  which  Benozso 
applied  to  the  intonaco  in  order  to  serve  as  a  mordant, 
I  shall  observe  that  it  must  have  been  dissolved  either 
in  a  volatile  or  in  a  fixed  drying  oil.  From  its  charac- 
ters I  am  inclined  more  towards  the  volatile  than  die 
fixed  oil ;  but  in  order  to  form  an  accurate  decision  on 
this  point,  it  would  be  necessary  to  have  at  my  disposal 
a  larger  quantity  of  the  gilding.  I  am  induced  to 
believe  from  the  experiments  which  I  made  on  some 
ancient  pictures  in  1791  for  my  particular  friend 
Signor  Alessandt*o  Morrona,  the  author  of  the  cele- 
brated work  entitled  *  Pisa  Illustrata,*  that  the  first  of 
these  oils  was  formerly  added  to  the  above-named 
substance.*'  * 

Some  estimate  of  the  extent  to  which  gold  was  used 
on  paintings  in  the  fifteenth  century  may  be  formed 
from  the  document  relative  to  the  expenses  of  painting 
the  chapel  of  S.  Jacopo  di  Pistoia,'  which  records  that 
7000  leaves  of  gold  were  used  for  this  purpose. 

§  2.  Auripetrum  and  Porporino. 

When  the  parties  for  whom  pictures  were  painted 
were  unable  or  unwilling  to  pay  for  gold  (which  was 
always  supplied  by  the  persons  who  ordered  the  pic- 
tures), it  was  usual  to  substitute  for  it  on  mural  paint- 
ings leaves  of  tin-foil,  covered  with  a  yellow  varnish* 


leaves  from  the  saino  quantity.  Cennino  (cap.  189)  complains  that  in  his 
time  145  leaves  were  obtained  from  the  ducat  instead  of  100 ;  and  it  appears 
from  Vasari,  that  in  his  time  436  leaves  of  gold  were  made  from  three  ducats. 
The  size  of  the  leaves  is  described  by  Vasari  to  have  been  the  eighth  of  a 
braccio  square.     Cennino  docs  not  mention  their  size. 

1  Vol.  ii.  p.  16*2.  **  Sig.  Giov.  Fabbroni  has  proved  ( Vantaggi  e  Metodi 
della  Pittura  Encausta)  that  in  encaustic  paintings  the  aDcicnts  did  not  unite 
the  wax  with  mastic  as  Requeno  asserts,  nor  with  an  alkali  as  Lorgna  pre- 
tends, nor  with  gums  and  honey  as  Aston  asserts,  but  with  a  Yolatiie  oil- 
like naphtha,  or  spirit  of  turijentinc."    [Note  by  Prof.  Branchi] 


CHAP,  v.]  AURIPETRUM  AND  PORPORINO.  XCIX 

The  method  of  applying  and  varnishing  the  tin-foil  is 
fully  described  in  the  MS.  of  S.  Audemar,  and  many 
other  old  works  on  painting.     Its  actual  employment 
on  mural  pictures  is  proved  by  the  above-mentioned 
document  ^  relative  to   the  expenses  of  th«   paintings 
executed  in   tibe  chapel  of  S.  Jacopo  di   Pistoia,  in 
which  37  pieces  of  tin  are  mentioned.     At  the  time 
Professor  Brandbi  made  his  experiments  on  the  gild- 
ing aod  pigments  employed  on  these  paintings,  ancient 
treatises  on  art  appear  to  have  been  but  little  studied. 
Branchi,  it  is  true,  mentions  the  work  of  Theophilus, 
which  had  been  published  by  Lessing  and  Baspe ;  but 
his  acquaintance  witjbi  it  must  have  been  superficial,  or 
be  would  have  recollected  that  Theophilus  describes' 
the  leaves  of  tin,  and  the  method  of  ^using  them  on 
pictures  and  on  books.     If  he  had  read  this  part  of  the 
work,  he  would  also  have   seen  that  the  tin-foil  was 
varnished,  and   he  would  then   have   understood   the 
probable  use  of  the  varnish  mentioned  in  the  document, 
for  the  employment  of  which  he  could  not  satisfactorily 
account,'  since  he  says  &at  the  firs^meots  of  the  gild- 
ing, and  of  the  pictures  which  he  had  analysed,  gave 
no  indication  of  vaxnish.^ 

In  order  to  economize  gold,  the  old  masters  had 
another  invention  called  "  porporino,''  a  composition 
made  of  quicksilver,  tin,  and  sulphur,  which  produced 
a  yellow  metallic  powder  that  was  employed  instead  of 
gold*^  The  Bolognese  MS.  devotes  a  whole  chapter  to 
this  subject.     A  substance  of  a  similar  nature  is  now  in 


1  CiampI,  Notude,  &c.,  p.  145. 

'  Lib.  i.  ch.  26  and  32,  £.  ed.  The  varnish  for  the  tin  leaves  is  fully 
described  in  the  MS.  of  S.  Audemar,  p.  163, 165. 

'  The  small' quantity  of  sandarac  (one  pound)  mentioned  inthe  document 
published  by  Ciampi  was  evidently  insufficient  to  varnish  the  pictures, 
which,  judging  from  the  large  quantity  of  colours  supplied,  must  have  been 
very  large  or  very  numerous. 

4  Letterndi  Branchi,  p.  18. 

*  See  Ceunino  Cennint,  Trattato,  cap.  159 ;  Bol.  MS.,  cup.  6. 

i/2 


Cii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  v. 

decorative  effect  than  for  cabinet  pictures.     The  lights 
were  poor,  and  did  not  bear  out  well. 

Wax  painting  is  now  practised  at  Parma.  An 
apartment  of  the  Museo  di  Antichita,  and  another  in 
the  public  library  of  that  city,  are  now  being  painted 
with  a  wax  vehicle,  and  after  a  process  invented  by  an 
artist  of  that  city,  which  he  freely  and  obligingly  com- 
municated to  me. 

The  vehicle  used  consists  of  wax  and  resin  dis- 
solved in  spirit  of  turpentine.  The  mixture  is  fluid, 
and  of  the  colour  of  milk.  In  this  the  colours  are 
ground,  and  are  then  preserved  in  small  glasses,  and 
spirit  of  turpentine  is  poured  upon  them  to  preserve 
them.  To  close  these  glasses  conveniently,  the  painter 
employs  a  cushion  of  leather  larger  than  the  glass,  with 
a  button  on  the  top  for  a  handle,  and  this  contrivance 
effectually  defends  the  colours  from  the  air  and  dust 

All  colours  may  be  used  indiscriminately,  Prussian 
blue,  orpiment,  and  others  which  are  not  permanent  in  oiL 

For  the  ground,  the  wall  or  ceiling  k  plastered  in 
the  usual  way  with  lime,  and  is  not  quite  smooth,  but 
is  left  with  a  kind  of  grain  or  tooth.  The  paintmg  is 
executed  on  this  ground  when  dry,  without  other  pre- 
paration. 

The  method  is  said  to  require  some  practice,  as  the 
colours  dry  fast.  When  workings  the  colours  are 
diluted  with  spirit  of  turpentine. 

This  kind  of  painting  has  great  brilliancy  and  trans- 
parency, and  can  be  seen  well  from  any  point  of  view. 
If  durable,  it  seems  well  adapted  for  deeorative  pur- 
poses. The  method  has  been  in  use  ibr  about  six 
years- 

§  4.  On  Fainting  Statues. 

The  practice  of  painting  statues  was  common  during 
the  middle  ages.*     The  proofs  of  this  are  num^ous. 


CUmpiy  Notizie,  &c.,  p.  IIS^,  142. 


CHAP.  ▼.]  ON  PAINTING  STATUEa  CUl 

The  documents  recording  the  wax  vehicle,  or  varnish, 
called  cera  collar  furnished  to  Andrea  Pisano  for  paint- 
ing and  varnishing  a  marble  statue  over  the  principal 
door  in  the  facade  of  the  Cathedral  of  Orvieto,  has 
been  mentioned  by  Mr.  Eastlake.^  This  practice  is 
alluded  to  more  than  once  in  the  MS.  of  Le  Begue,^  and 
in  the  Tabula  Imperfecta'  is  a  reference  to  some  direc- 
tions contained  in  Theophilus^  for  painting  round 
images,  *'  ymagines  rotundas,"  *  and  ottier  sculptured 
articles  which  are  not  covered  with  leather,  cloth,  or 
parchment*  The  most  remarkable  example,  probably 
now  in  existence,  of  the  union  of  painting  with  statuary, 
is  in  the  baptistery  near  the  Cathedral  of  Novara.  The 
building  is  circular,  and  supported  by  ancient  columns : 
the  recesses  between  the  columns  contain  the  events  of 
the  Passion.  The  figures  in  plastic  work  are  as  large 
as  life,  coloured ;  and  in  some  cases  the  resemblance  to 
life  is  completed  by  the  addition  of  real  hair.  The 
wall  behind  the  figures,  which  is  painted  in  firesco, 
serves  as  a  background  to  the  figures ;  and  the  light 
aSrial  tone  of  the  painting  contributes  much  to  the 
effect  of  the  figures.  The  remarks  on  these  groups,  in 
a  MS.  Journal,  quoted  by  the  author  of  the  '  Hand- 
book for  North  Italy,'  are  so  appropriate  and  judicious, 
that  I  shall  make  no  apology  for  introducing  them  here. 
*'  They  are,'*  he  says,  "  probably  by  Gaudenaio  Ferrari,* 
who  excelled  in  this  branch  of  art ;  and  many  of  the 
figures  we  of  exquisite  workmanship.  The  two  finest 
groups  are  the  Garden  of  Olives,,  and  the  Scourging  of 
our  Lord,  which  last,  without  being  in  the  least  disgU6l>- 
iiig  or  painful,  is  most  deeply  affecting.     One  of  the 

1  Materials,  &c.,  p.  170. 

«  See  No.  180  (p.  146),  and  No.  344  (p  316).  «  P.  40. 

<  Lib.  L  cap.  ^3,  £.  ed.        ^  The  word  **  rotundas  **^  is  not  in.Theophilu«. 

*  Gamienzio  Ferrari  was  bom  in  1484,  and  died  in  1660.  He  was  oi.c 
of  the  principal  painters  of  the  Milanese  school  >  and  his  merits,  which  have 
been  overlooked  bjr  Vasari,  hare  been  justly  appreciated  und  warmly  euio* 
gized  by  Lomazzo  and  Lanzi. 


CIV  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  v. 

executioners  is  sitting  down,  tired  with  his  work ;  the 
Boman  -soldier  looks  on  with  pity ;  the  other  can  no 
longer  look,  and  turns  away.  These  representations 
are  so  entirely  at  variance  with  our  conventional  rules, 
that  it  requires  a  considerable  degree  of  mental  exertion 
to  appreciate  them.  The  first  step  in  this,  and  many 
similar  occasions,  must  be  for  the  observer  to  forget  all 
that  he  has  read  upon  the  theory  of  the  fine  arts ;  and 
to  form  his  opinion,  as  the  judge  tells  the  jury,  not  to 
mind  what  they  have  heard  out  of  court,  but  to  give 
their  verdict  upon  the  evidence  before  them.  In  so 
doing,  you  must  recollect  that  the  only  valid  plea  by 
which  the  introduction  of  images  into  churches  is 
attempted  to  be  justified  by  the  Romanists,  is,  that 
they  are  books  of  instruction  to  the  common  people ; 
and  certainly  neither  mere  painting,  nor  mere  sculp- 
ture,  can  realise  the  events  of  Scripture  to  the  mind  in 
a  manner  so  vivid  as  this  union  of  form  and  colour. 
You  will  rarely  enter  this  baptistery  without  finding 
individuals  employed  in  acts  of  devotion  before  these 
scenes ;  some  reading  appropriate  selections  from  Scrip- 
ture, some  engaged  in  prayer,  but  not  praying  to  the 
images,  for  the  circumstance  of  their  forming  entire 
groups  prevents  any  one  being  singled  out  as  the  object 
of  worship;  and  let  us  repeat,  that  the  independent 
judgment  which  we  have  ventured  to  advise  the  tra- 
veller to  assert  in  Italy,  will  be  much  strengthened  by 
his  asserting  it  in  the  baptistery  of  Novara."  In 
the  Life  of  Andrea  Verrocchio,  Vasari  gives  a  descrip- 
tion of  some  curious  eflSgies  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medicis, 
which  were  modelled  in  wax  and  afterwards  painted  in 
oil.  His  account  is  as  follows : — "  On  the  occasion  of 
the  murder  of  Giuliano  de'  Medicis,  and  the  narrow 
escape  of  Lorenzo  his  brother,  who  was  wounded  at 
the  same  time,  in  the  Church  of  S**'  Maria  del  Fiore, 
the  friends  of  Lorenzo  ordered  several  effigies  of  him 
to  be  made  in  commemoration  of  this  event.     Among 


w^^^^^^^^^r^^^^mmm^^mmmmm 


CHAP.  ▼.]  ON  PAINTING  STATUES.  CV 

others,  Orsini,  a  celebrated  modeller  in  wax,  with  the 
assistance  and  under  the  direction  of  Andrea  Ver- 
rocchio,  modelled  three  images  as  large  as  life.  Within 
these  was  a  kind  of  skeleton  of  wood,  and  split  canes, 
which  was  covered  with  waxed  cloth,  disposed  in  such 
well-arranged  folds,  that  it  was  impossible  anything 
could  more  nearly  resemble  the  reality.  The  heads, 
hands,  and  feet,  which  were  of  wax,  were  hollow  within, 
and  modelled  from  the  life,  and  then  painted  in  oil, 
real  hair  being  added,  and  all  appropriate  ornaments. 
**  These,**  says  Vasari,  "  represented  not  waxen  effigies, 
but  living  men,  as  may  be  seen  in  all  three  figures,  one 
of  which  is  in  the  church  of  the  nuns  of  Chiarito,  in  the 
Via  di  S.  Gallo.  This  figure  is  habited  in  the  very 
dress  which  Lorenzo  wore  when,  wounded  in  the  throat 
and  bandaged,  he  appeared  at  a  window  of  his  house, 
that  he  might  be  seen  by  the  people,  who  had  collected 
there  to  ascertain  whether  he  was  alive,  as  they  wished 
him  to  be,  or  dead ;  and  if  dead,  tliat  they  might 
avenge  him."  The  second  figure  is  in  the  church  of 
the  Servites,  at  Lucca,  in  the  civil  costume  worn  by  the 
Florentines.  The  third  image  was  sent  to  S^  Maria 
degli  Angeli,  at  Assisi.  There  were  other  wax  figures 
by  Orsini  in  the  Church  of  the  Servites.  These  were 
distinguished  by  a  large  O,  within  which  was  an  B, 
with  a  cross  above  it.  They  were  all  fine  works  of  art, 
and  Vasari  remarks  that  they  have  been  equalled  by 
few.  He  adds  that  the  art  was  practised  in  his  time, 
but  whether  firom  want  of  devotion,  or  other  causes, 
it  was  then  declining. 

The  custom  of  painting  figures  extended  also  to  the 
colouring,  with  a  kind  of  enamel,  of  figures  and  bassi 
rilievi  in  terra  cotta ;  and  the  numerous  specimens  of 
this  kind  of  decoration  which  still  remain,  prove  the 
estimation  in  which  this  art  was  once  held. 

The  most  distinguished  artist  in  this  line  was  Luca 
della  Bobbia,  to  whom  many  improvements  in  the  art 
are  ascribed. 


CVl  INTRODUCTION.  [cbap.  v. 

In  Spain  the  art  of  colouring  wooden  statues  was 
continued  to  a  comparatively  late  period.  Faeheco^ 
gives  instructions  for  painting  statues,  and  it  appears 
that  he  did  not  disdain  to  practise  the  art  himself^  and 
that  he  even  claimed  the  honour  of  having  introduced  a 
better  style  of  painting  scidpture.  Alonzo  Cano  and 
Montafies  are  said  to  have  frequently  stipulated  that 
none  but  themselves  should  paint  the  images  which  th^ 
had  carved.* 

The  practice  of  painting  ^^  ymagines  rotundas "  was 
not  confined  to  those  carved  in  wood ;  it  extended  also 
to  stone  statues,  and  was  frequently  employed  on  the 
sepulchral  effigies  of  kings  and  nobles.  In  this  case  the 
dress  of  the  sculptured  figure  exactly  resembled  tibat 
worn  by  the  person  whom  it  was  intended  to  represent. 
Among  the  Germaiis  and  English  a  general  custom 
prevailed  of  painting  monumental  effigies.  A  remark- 
able instance  of  this  occurs  in  the  effigy  of  Henry  II.  of 
England,  at  Fontevraud,  in  Normandy,  described  by 
Mr:  Stothard  in  his  work  entitled  ''The  Monumental 
Effigies  of  Grea4:  Britain.'  The  beard  of  the-  figure  is 
painted  and  stippled  like  a  miniature,  to  represent  its 
being  closely  shaven  in  the  Norman  fashion^  The 
mantle,  Mr.  Stothard  ascertained  by  scraping,  had 
been  painted  several  times ;  it  was  originally  of  a  deep 
reddish  chocolate.'  The  Dalmatica,  or  tunic,  was  of 
crimson,  covered  with  gold  stars.  The  boots  were 
green,  with  gold  spurs,  fastened  by  red  leathesa  The 
gloves  have  jewels  on  the  centre  of  the  back  of  the 
hand,  a  mark  of  royalty  or  high  ecclesiastical  rank. 
The  crown  and  the  right  hand  are  broken,  but  the  latter 

still  retains  the  sceptre.     The  sword  lies  on  the  bier  by 

t  "■  -         ------    — 

1  Tratado  delU  Pintura,  p.  402,  &o. 

^  For  additional  information  on  this  subject ,  see  Ford>  Hand<book  for 
S])ain,  p.  110. 

3  Probably  the  deep  rod  colour  fouod  on  old  ftescoes,  apparently  pro- 
duced by  the  red  haematite. 


CHMF.  ▼.]  IMPLEMENTS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  CVU 

the  left  side.  With  the  exception  of  the  position  of  the 
sword,  it  will  be  seen  that  this  description  agrees  with 
the  account  of  the  burial  of  Henry  II.,  extracted  by 
Mr.  Stothard  from  the  History  of  Matthew  Paris,  who 
says,  "  the  king  was  arrayed  in  the  royal  investments, 
having  a  golden  crown  on  his  head,  and  gloves  on  the 
hands,  boots  wrought  with  gold  on  the  feet,  and  spurs, 
and  a  great  ring  on  the  finger,  with  the  sceptre  in  the 
hand,  and  girt  with  a  sword:  he  lay  with  his  face 
uncovered.'*  Mr.  Stothard  continues,  "  It  therefore 
appears  that  the  tomb  was  literally  a  representation  of 
the  deceased  king,  as  if  he  still  lay  in  state.  Nor  can 
we,  without  supposing  such  was  the  custom,  otherwise 
account  for  the  singular  coincidence  between  the  effigy 
of  King  John  on  the  lid  of  his  coffin  and  his  body 
withio  it,  when  discovered  a  few  yearo  since.**  ^ 

§  5.  Implements  osed  in  Painting. 

The  wood-cut,  copied  originally  from  a  miniature  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  in  the  Bibliotheque  Royale  at 
Paris,  appeared  in  the  before-mentioned  interesting 
work  of  M.  Aime  Champollion-Figeac ;  it  exhibits  a 
female  artist  in  the  act  of  painting  a  statue  of  the 
Virgin  holding  the  infant  Saviour.  The  subject  is 
highly  interesting  in  another  point  of  view,  because  it 
shows  the  implements  used  at  that  period  in  painting. 
The  artist  holds  a  pencil  or  brush  in  her  right  hand, 
and  a  palette  with  a  handle  in  her  left,  thus  affording 
incontestable  evidence  that  the  palette  was  used  in 
Prance  during  the  fifteenth  century.  This  is,  perhaps, 
the  earliest  notice  of  this  implement  with  which  we  are 
acquainted.  The  colours,  mixed  in  shells,  as  described 
by  Alcherius  and  other  writers,  are  placed  on  a  small 
bench  by  her  side,  near  which  are  the  brushes  in  a  tray, 
and   a   second   palette,  also   furnished  with  a  handle. 

I  King  John  was  buried  in  Worcester  Cathedral. 


INTEODUCTION.  [cB 


Another  illustration  of  the  vork  of  M.  Champollion, 
copied  from  a  miniature  of  the  same  period,  represents 
the  atelier  of  a  painter  of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  is 
sitting  on  a  folding  stool,  holding  in  his  left  hand  a 
palette,  similar  in  its  form  to  those  represented  in  the 
last  cut. '  In  his  r^ht  hand  he  holds  a  brush,  with 
which  he  is  painting  a  picture  of  the  Virgin  and  Child, 


.  v.]  LEATHER.  CIX 

which,  from  being  framed,  suggests  the  idea  of  being 
painted  on  canvass.  The  picture  is  placed  on  an  easel, 
supported  by  three  legs.  In  the  background  is  a  man 
grinding  colours,  with  a  jar  by  his  side.  In  the  fore- 
ground is  a  low  table,  on  which  are  shells  of  various 
kinds  holding  colours,  and  a  tray  full  of  brushes.  The 
long  and  flowing  sleeves  of  the  painter,  and  the  pointed 
shoes  of  the  man  grinding  the  colours,  will  assist  in 
fixing  the  date  of  this  drawing. 

§  6.  Leather. 

It  has  been  mentioned  that  during  the  age  of  Frede- 
rick Barbarossa,  the  clothes  of  men  were  of  leather, 
unlined.  There  is  reason,  however,  to  believe,  from 
the  recipes  contained  in  the  Lucca  MS.,  and  repeated 
in  the  Mappse  Clavicula,  that  the  skins  were  frequently 
dyed.  During  the  dark  and  middle  ages,  the  prepara- 
tion of  leather  appears  to  have  been  carried  on  chiefly 
in  the  south  of  Europe,  and  in  the  countries  inhabited 
by  the  Saracens  and  Moors.  The  leather  of  Marseilles 
was  particularly  valued  at  this  period ;  and  one  quarter 
of  the  city,  called  "  La  Cuiraterie,*'  was  especially  set 
apart  for  the  preparation  of  this  article,  with  which  the 
markets  of  Spain  and  Italy  were  supplied.  In  the 
twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  centuries,  skins  and 
leather  were  also  imported  from  Africa  into  Barcelona, 
and  the  merchants  of  this  city  occupied,  conjointly  with 
those  of  Marseilles,  a  certain  quarter  of  the  city  of 
Troyes,  where  they  carried  on  a  trade  principally  in 
Morocco  leather.*  From  the  ninth  to  the  middle  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  the  city  of  Cordova,  in  Spain, 
was  celebrated  for  the  leather  called  "  Cordovan,** 
which  was  manufactured  there  by  the  Moors. 

The  use  of  leather  was  not  limited  to  articles  of 
dress,  but  as  men  became  more  luxurious,  the  fashion 

1  Depping,  Histoire  ()u  Commerce,  vol.  i.  p.  249,  263,  294. 


ex  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  v. 

of  hanging  rooms  with  leather,  painted  linen-cloth,^  or 
tapestry,  was  introduced.  The  walls  of  apartments 
were  formerly  left  bare,  and  on  the  introduction  of 
leather  hangings  or  tapestry,  they  were  confined  to  that 
part  of  the  room  which  was  immediately  behind  the 
seats  occupied  by  the  owners  of  the  house.  These 
hangings  were  suspended  from  hooks  fixed  in  the  wall, 
and,  like  the  glass  windows,  were  removed  when  the 
family  changed  their  residence.  Frequent  examples  of 
these  partial  hangings  of  apartments  may  be  seen  in 
miniatures  and  pictures  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  the  hangings  were 
continued  round  the  apartment,  and  the  leather  was 
frequently  stamped  and  gilt,  or  ornamented  with  tin- 
foil, and  afterwards  varnished  with  a  yellow  varnish. 
Descriptions  of  this  varnish  are  to  be  found  in  all 
technical  works  relating  to  art,  from  the  Lucca  MS.  to 
the  Treatise  of  Pacheco,  inclusive. 

Filiasi'  observes  that  ^^  the  art  of  gilding  skins  and 
leather  has  been  exercised  from  time  immemorial  in 
the  [Venetian]  lagoon,  and  to  such  an  extent  was  the 
commerce  in  this  merchandise  carried  on  with  Spain  and 
the  Levant,  that,  one  year  with  another,  the  trade  in 
gilt  leather  brought  into  Venice  a  clear  profit  of  about 
100,000  ducats  and  more.''  Apartments  hung  with  this 
stamped  and  gilt  leather  may  still  be  seen  in  some  of 
the  palaces  at  Venice.  The  Barbarigo  Palace  has 
more  than  one  room  decorated  in  this  manner.  Leather 
hangings  were  also  in  use  in  our  own  country;  the 
best  specimens  are  at  Nonsuch  Palace,  in  Surrey ; 
Hinchinbrook  House,  near  Huntingdon ;  Buffer  Abbey, 
in  Nottinghamiihire ;  and  at  Blenheim.^ 

Gilt  leather  was  also  applied  to  other  purposes.     It 

1  See  Mr.  Eastlake's  <  Mftierials,'  p.  97. 

*  Saggio  suir  Antico  Commcrcio,  sull*  Arti,  e  sulla  Marinade'  Vcneziani, 
appended  to  die  7th  volume  of  his  Memorie  Storichc  de'Vetieti,  p.  153. 
3  See  a  |ttpcr  on  this  subject  in  the  Art  Union  for  August,  1847. 


CHAP,  v.]  LEATNCaL  CXl 

was  used  for  the  covers  of  books,  and  for  frames 
of  mirrors.  Examples  of  both  may  be  seen  in  the 
museum  in  the  Hotel  de  Cluny  at  Paris.  Pictures 
were  also  frequently  painted  on  plain  leather,  stretched 
on  a  panel.  The  circumstance  is  alluded  to  by 
£raclius.  Marco  Bizzi  sometimes  painted  in  tempera 
on  kid-8kins  ;^  and  in  the  Fondaco  de'  Tedeschi  an 
apartment  is  decorated  with  historical  pictures  by  Paolo 
Veronese,  painted  on  the  gilt  leather  for  which  Venice 
was  so  famous.* 

In  the  commencement  of  this  Introduction  full  credit 
has  been  given  to  the  monks  for  the  preservation  of 
literature  and  the  arts ;  but  it  must  be  allowed  that  if 
tliey  have  been  the  cau^e  of  the  preservation  of  learning 
during  the  dark  ages,  they  have  also  actually  destroyed 
the  writings  of  many  classic  authors  in  order  to  tran- 
scribe  on  the  parchment  on  which  they  were  written 
the  works  of  the  fathers  or  the  legends  of  the  saints. 
Some  of  the  lost  works  of  antiquity  have  been 
brought  to  light  by  the  labours  of  Cardinal  Angelo 
Mai  and  other  learned  men ;  but  alas !  the  ingenious 
monks  had  discovered  another  and  more  effectual 
mediod  of  destroying  the  literary  treasures  of  antiquity. 
This  method  is  revealed  in  the  Bolognese  MS.,'  where 
we  find  a  recipe  *^  To  make  chamois  leather  with  sheep 
or  goatrskin  parchment^  which  lias  been  toritten  on  1" 
Who  shall  say  how  many  classic  works  have  been  made 
into  leather  waistcoats  for  the  warriors  of  the  middle 
ages  or  cut  into  sandals  for  the  sleek  and  well-fed 
monks  ?  Who  shall  even  say  how  many  works  were 
obliterated  before  the  destroying  process  was  brought 
to  perfection,  and  the  grand  discovery  made  that  parch- 
ment which  had  been  written  on  would  make  as  good 
leather  as  that  which  had  never  been  touched  by  a  pen  ? 


1  Zuiietti,  della  Pittura  Veneaana,  p.  442,  n. 
«  Ibid.,  p.  194.  »  Ibid.,  p.  876. 


cxii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  v. 

§  7.  Niello. 

Among  the  arts  formerly  practised  and  now  fallen  into 
disuse,  there  is  perhaps  none  which  has  led  to  such  im- 
portant results  as  the  ancient  nigellum  or  niello,  for  to 
this  we  are  indebted  for  the  invention  of  engraving. 
The  art  was  known  to  the  ancients  and  was  practised 
during  the  middle  ages,  as  we  find  from  the  *  Mappae 
Clavicula,'  the  MSS.  of  Eraclius,  Theophilus,  and  Le 
Begue,  as  well  as  from  specimens  of  the  art  still  existing 
in  different  museums.  These  examples  are  extremely 
rare. 

That  the  art  was  practised  by  the  Byzantine  Greeks 
is  proved  by  the  specimens  in  the  Pala  d'Oro,  which 
was  made  at  Constantinople  in  976,  by  order  of  the 
Doge  Pietro  Orseolo,  for  the  church  of  S.  Mark  at 
Venice,  where  it  may  now  be  seen.  The  material  is 
silver-gilt  ornamented  with  gems  and  enamels.  Some 
of  the  inscriptions  are  in  Greek  and  some  in  Latin, 
but  the  letters  are  all  in  niello.  The  Pala  d'Oro  was 
repaired  in  1105,  in  1209,  and  in  1345,  but  it  is  highly 
probable  that  the  nielli  formed  part  of  the  original 
design.  Some  fragments  of  it  are  now  in  England. 
The  Marquess  Trivulzio  of  Milan  has  a  collection  of 
about  forty  nielli,  among  which  I  saw  a  very  fine 
specimen  by  Maso  Finigiierra  and  another  by  Pere- 
grino,  besides  others  highly  interesting. 

This  art  was  much  cultivated  by  the  early  Milanese 
goldsmiths,  who  applied  it  to  the  decoration  of  arras 
and  armour,  as  well  as  to  religious  purposes.* 

Benvenuto  Cellini  remarks^  that  the  art  of  exe- 
cuting nielli  was  nearly  forgotten  at  Florence  in  the 
year  1515,  when  he  began  to  learn  the  craft  of  the 
goldsmith.     But,   he  proceeds,  as  he  was  continually 


1  Milano  e  il  suo  Territorio,  vol.  ii.  p.  244. 

s  Dcir  Arte  del  Niellarc,  e  del  Modo  di  fare  il  NicIIo. 


CHAP,  v.]  NIELLO.— DYEING.  CXlll 

hearing  from  the  goldsmiths  of  the  beauty  of  the  nielli, 
and  particularly  of  the  skill  of  Maso  Finiguerra  in  this 
art,  he  applied  himself  with  great  diligence  to  follow 
the  traces  of  these  skilful  goldsmiths ;  but  not  content 
with  learning  to  engrave  on  the  silver  only,  he  learned 
also  the  mode  of  executing  the  nielli,  in  order  to  work 
with  more  facility  and  certainty.  Cellini  has  left  us 
the  most  precise  description  of  the  mode  of  working 
nielli  which  is  extant  It  has  been  published  with  his 
other  works.* 

The  art  consisted  *  in  drawing  the  design  on  gold  or 
silver  with  a  style  and  then  engraving  it  with  the  burin ; 
a  black  composition  was  then  made  of  copper,  lead, 
silver,  and  sulphur,  incorporated  together  by  heat. 
When  cold  the  composition  was  pounded  and  laid  on 
the  engraved  silver  plate,  a  little  borax  was  sprinkled 
over  it,  and  th^  plate  was  then  placed  over  a  charcoal 
fire  until  the  composition,  being  dissolved,  flowed  into 
all  the  lines  of  the  design.  When  cold,  the  work  was 
scraped  and  burnished,  and  the  niello  presented  the 
effect  of  a  drawing  in  black  on  gold  or  silver. 

§  8.  Dyeing. 

During  the  dark  ages  the  Jews  appear  to  have  mono- 
polised the  trade  of  dyeing.  Benjamin  of  Tudela 
relates  that  when  he  visited  Jerusalem  (between  11 60 
and  1173)  he  found  only  two  hundred  Jews  resident  in 
that  city,  who  were  all  dyers  of  wool,  and  who  had 
purchased  a  monopoly  of  the  trade.  Beckmann  ^  has 
shown  that  the  art  of  dyeing  was  principally  carried  on 
by  this  people  during  the  same  period  in  Italy.  Dye- 
houses  were  established  in  the  duchy  of  Benevento  as 
early  as  the  eleventh  century,  and  in  Sicily  at  the  com- 


1  The  Life  and  Writings  of  Cellini  were  published  in  3  vols.  8vo.,  in 
1806,  at  Milan. 

*  See  Vasari,  Int.,  cap.  xxxiii.  &  Inventions,  Title  Indigo, 

VOL.    I.  h 


cxiv  INTRODUCTION.  [cm^.  v. 

mencement  of  the  thirteenth.  From  the  Jews  resident 
in  Italy  the  art  soon  spread  to  the  Italians,  who  carried 
it  to  a  greater  degree  of  perfection  than  the  other 
nations  of  Europe. 

In  Venice  there  appear  to  have  been  distinct  esta- 
blishments for  dyeing  in  the  thirteenth  century/  for 
this  city  was  then  celebrated  for  its  purple  dyes.  The 
scarlet  dyes  prepared  from  the  kermes  {ffrana)  at 
Florence  were  particularly  prized.  About  the  year 
1338  this  city  contained  nearly  two  hundred  of  these 
factories.*  In  the  year  1300  the  art  of  dyeing  with  the 
purple  colour  obtained  from  the  lichen  Roccella  or  Ori- 
cello  was  introduced  from  the  Levant ;  but  the  secret 
of  preparing  the  dye  was  for  a  long  period  confined  to  a 
single  family,  who  acquired  a  large  fortune  by  culti- 
vating this  branch  of  industry,  and  who  for  this  reason 
received  the  name  of  "  Buccellai." 

Previous  to  this  period  Marseilles,  Aries,  Montpellier, 
and  other  parts  of  the  South  of  France,  were  famous 
for  red,  blue,  and  rose-coloured  dyes.  The  statutes  of 
these  cities  contain  regulations  relative  to  the  use  of 
madder,  kermes,  and  brasil  wood  in  dyeing.' 

The  date  of  the  introduction  of  the  art  of  dyeing 
into  England  seems  uncertain.  Hume  remarks  that 
"  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  woollen  cloth,  which  the 
English  had  not  then  the  art  of  dyeing,  was  worn  by 
them  white,  and  without  receiving  the  last  hand  of  the 
manufacturer;"  and  it  is  certain  that  as  late  as  the 
year  1284  *  the  English  were  in  the  habit  of  contract- 
ing with  the  Florentine  merchants  for  the  sale  of  their 
fleeces  for  a  period  of  one  year  or  more.  Mr.  Hallam  * 
has,  however,  shown  that  a  woollen-manufactory  existed 

■  ■       J  ..■i.i....--.     --.i-ii 

1  Filiasi,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  153. 

2  Dcpping,  Histoire  du  Commerce,  &c.,  voJ.  i.  p.  235. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.  p.  293,  900. 

^  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  337,  quoting  Pagnini  '  Delia  Decima  e  delle  ahre 
Gravezze.'  ^  History  of  the  Middle  Agea,  vol.  ill.  p.  878. 


CHAP.  ▼.]  DYEING.  CXV 

in  England  under  Henry  11^  which  was  noticed  in  the 
regulations  of  Richard  I.,  and  which,  by  the  importa- 
tion of  woad  under  John,  may  be  considered  to  have 
been  then  flourishing.  From  the  importation  of  woad 
it  may  certainly  be  inferred  that  tiie  English  under- 
stood and  practised  the  art  of  dyeing  as  early  as  the 
time  of  John.  The  MS.  of  S«  Audemar  alludes  to  a 
substance  called  folium,^  which  was  used  by  the  English 
to  dye  wool  red  or  purple.  The  date  of  this  MS.  is 
uncertain,  but  it  is  probably  not  later  than  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century. 

From  the  frequent  occurrence  of  treatises  on  dyeing 
in  old  MSS.  relative  to  the  arts,  it  seems  probable  that 
this  art  was  formerly  practised  in  monasteries  conjointly 
vfith  painting  and  medicine.  The  older  MSS.,  such  as 
that  of  Lucca  and  the  ^Mappse  Clavicula,'  contain 
recipes  for  dyeing  skins  and  leather  only.  The  Bo- 
lognese  MS.  contains  a  long  treatise  on  dyeing,  in 
which  various  methods  of  dyeing  skins  and  leather  of 
all  kinds,  as  well  as  silk,  thread,  and  woollen  stufl^  are 
circumstantially  detailed.  The  Sloane  MS.,  No.  1754, 
contains  also  a  treatise  ^'  de  Tincturis,''  which  seems  to 
have  been  written  principally  for  the  use  of  the  monks, 
the  dyeing  of  the  dresses  worn  by  them  being  described 
in  it  These  treatises  are  generally  accompanied  by 
recipes  for  removing  stains  from  cloth.  In  the  intro^ 
duction  to  the  MSS.  of  Le  Begue  a  practice  is  noticed ' 
which  prevailed  in  England,  previous  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  printing  with  blocks,  of  painting  linen  cloth 
intended  for  wearing-apparel  with  figures,  flowers,  and 
various  devices  in  imitation  of  embroidery.  Recipes  of 
a  similar  kind  are  contained  hi  the  Sloane  MS.  above 
mentioned,  and  also  in  the  Bolognese  MS.' 


1  A  vegetable  colour  emplojed  also  is  painting,  prepared  from  the  juice 
of  the  Croton  tinctorium. 

•  Page  7..  »Page49L 

h  2 


cxvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 


CHAPTER   VI. 


PAINTING  IN  OIL. 


The  fact  that  in  Italy  colours  were  mixed  with  oil  in 
painting  long  before  the  alleged  introduction  of  oil 
painting  by  Antonello  da  Messina,  has  been  established 
by  the  clearest  evidence ;  but  the  method  adopted  by 
these  early  artists  was  rude  and  imperfect ;  and  it  was 
only  after  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  that  the 
process,  which  had  been  perfected  by  the  genius  and 
skill  of  the  brothers  Van  Eyck,  was  introduced  into 
Italy  by  their  pupils  and  followers. 

In  the  course  of  years  the  Flemish  process  under- 
went various  modifications,  some  of  the  old  practices 
were  altered,  and  new  ones  introduced,  until  the  ex- 
ample of  Titian  and  Paolo  Veronese  occasioned  a 
radical  change  in  the  technical  methods  of  the  Italian 
painters.  After  their  time  the  new  methods  were 
again  modified  and  changed  by  succeeding  painters^ 
until  not  only  the  original  FlenHsh  process,  but  those 
of  the  Venetian  painters,  had  fallen  into  oUivion,  and 
but  few  traces  of  the  old  practices  remained.  Some  of 
these  have  been  handed  down  traditionally  from  mas- 
ter  to  pupil ;  others  may  be  collected  fi*em  works  on 
painting. 

It  was  with  a  view  to  collect  these  scattered  reminis- 
cences of  art  that  the  present  work  was  principally 
undertaken. 

As  traditionary  practices  might  possibly  preserve 
the  remembrance  of  technical  processes  not  recorded  in 
books,  or  at  least  serve  to  confirm  th,ose  which  have 
been  described  by  writers  on  art,  it  appeared  to  me 


CHAP.  VI.]  PRACTICE  OF  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  cxrii 

most  desirable  to  learn  as  many  of  them  as  I  could. 
With  this  view,  I  applied  for  information  to  several 
eminent  artists  and  restorers  of  pictures  in  the  north  of 
Italy.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  kindness  and  frankness 
with  which  they  answered  my  inquiries,  and  commu- 
nicated all  they  knew  respecting  the  old  methods  of 
painting.  On  one  occasion  only  was  there  the  slightest 
degree  of  reserve. 

The  information  contained  in  the  treatises  published 
in  these  volumes,  and  in  other  works  on  art,  relative  to 
technical  details,  is  frequently  concise  and  incomplete, 
and  sometimes  merely  incidental.  Extensive  reading 
is,  therefore,  necessary  to  enable  one  to  form  a  just 
idea  of  the  early  methods  of  oil-painting.  As  many  of 
the  processes  are  described  in  books  which  are  so  rare 
as  to  be  scarcely  accessible  to  the  general  reader,  I 
have  endeavoured  to  collect  from  them,  as  well  as  from 
the  communications  of  Italian  artists,  such  information 
as  will  give  the  reader  some  slight  notions  of  the  Ita- 
lian practice  of  oil-painting. 

The  materials  I  have  collected  may  be  arranged 
under  the  following  heads: — 1st.  The  communications 
made  by  foreign  professors  of  painting.  2ndly.  An 
explanation  of  the  colours  used  in  painting,  with  some 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  they  are  employed. 
Srdly.  A  description  of  the  mode  of  preparing  oils  and 
varnishes,  and  of  the  resins  of  which  the  latter  are 
composed ;  and,  4thly,  A  short  account  of  the  process  of 
painting. 

f  1.  Opinions  of  eminent  Italian  Artists  as  to  the  Practice  of 

the  Old  Masters. 

The  following  particulars  relative  to  old  methods  of 
painting  were  communicated  to  me  by  Signor  A.,  an 
artist  who  had  practised  many  years  at  Milan,  and  is 
esteemed  as  a  skilful  restorer  of  pictures. 

The  Society  of  Painters  in  the  Italian  States  were 


CXVIU  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  n. 

governed  by  certain  rules  and  regulations  among  them- 
selves, and  when  a  young  man  wished  to  become  a 
painter,  he  was  placed  with  one  of  established  repu- 
tation, with  whom  he  was  to  continue  one  year  on  trial. 
If  at  the  end  of  that  period  the  master  was  dissatisfied 
with  the  boy*8  progress,  he  returned  him  to  his  parents ; 
if  he  approved  of  him,  the  boy  was  bound  to  him  for 
twelve  years,*  the  first  six  or  seven  of  which  were  spent 
in  learning  to  grind  colours,  and  all  the  other  mecha- 
nical parts  of  the  art,  as  well  as  in  painting  "  Madon- 
nine,*'  which  were  sent  to  the  fairs  for  sale,  and  the 
proceeds  helped  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  boy's  board 
and  lodging.  The  pupil  was  sworn  never  to  divulge 
the  secrets  *  of  the  art  until  he  became  a  master  him- 
self, when  he  was  allowed  to  teach  his  own  pupils,  first 
binding  them  to  secrecy.  Signer  A.  remarked  that  a 
master  could  not  execute  large  works  properly  unless 
he  had  half  a  dozen  pupils  at  least,  and  the  object  of 
the  long  apprenticeship  was,  that  the  pupil  might  by 
his  services  repay  the  master  who  had  maintained  and 
taught  him,  for  in  those  days  pupils  did  not  pay 
apprentice  fees. 

He  observed  that  Titian  painted  on  a  ground  of  thin 
"  gesso  marcio,*'  •  taking  especial  care  not  to  put  too 
much  glue,*  and  this  slightly  absorbent  ground  was 
useful  in  getting  rid  of  the  superfluous  oil.  He  next 
stated  that  the  two  great  faults  of  the  modems  were  the 
use  of  white  lead  in  their  grounds,  and  the  little  care 
they  took  in  purifying  their  colours.     He  said  that  any 

1  Cennini  (cap.  civ.)  mentions  a  similar  term  of  apprenticeship.  He 
says  the  fint  year  was  spent  in  studying  drawing ;  the  next  six  in  learnings 
to  grind  (Colours,  to  make  glue,  to  prepare  groands,  and  to  gild ;  and  the 
remaining  six  years  in  learning  to  paint. 

^  Compare  with  the  Statutes  of  Sienese  Painters,  s.  xiii.  xl.  Carteggio 
Inedito,  vol.  ii. 

3  Sec  Zanctti,  della  Pittura  Veneziana,  p.  101. 

«  Strong  glue  would  have  hardened  the  ground  and  rendered  it  non- 
absorbent.     See  p.  888. 


CHAP.  VI.]  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  CXlX 

picture  in  which  white  lead  was  used  in  the  ground 
would  inevitably  crack  within  fifty  years  after  it  was 
painted,  and  that  pictures  painted  with  oil  on  a  white 
lead  ground  would  moreover  turn  brown.^  This  prac- 
tice, he  said,  was  observed  by  Mengs,  who  in  other 
respects  painted  with  the  true  method.  He  also  said 
that  the  colours  were  always  ground  with  oil,  but  that 
oil  was  not  used  to  paint  with.  The  colours,  he  said, 
were  of  the  most  common  description,  as  we  read  in 
ILanzi  and  others,"  but  they  were  carefully  purified 
and  washed.  Signor  A.  told  me,  that  when  he  was  at 
Venice  he  made  a  point  of  going  to  the  Piazza  San 
Salvatore,'  where  Titian  used  to  purchase  his  colours, 
to  see  whether  there  were  any  "  speziali  *'  *  there  still. 
He  found  one,  and  inquired  of  him  if  he  had  any  old 
colours,  such  as  were  used  by  the  old  painters,  and  he 
was  slN>wn  an  orange-coloured  pigment,  which  resem- 
bled a  colour  frequently  found  on  Venetian  pictures. 
Signor  A.  gave  me  an  ounce  or  more  of  this  colour. 

He  said  the  blue  used  by  Titian,  Correggio,  Paul 
Veronese,  and  others,  was  "  bleu  minerale,*'  (he  pro- 
nounced this  word  in  the  Italian  manner ;)  he  showed 
me  his  bottle  of  this  blue,  and  told  me  I  could  pur- 
chase it  for  one  soldo  an  ounce,  for  it  was  now  used  for 
the  most  common  purposes ;  but  that  it  could  not  be 
used  with  oil,  or  in  any  method  but  his,  on  oil  paint- 
ings. He  said  the  Venetians  never  used  ultramarine,* 
which  inclined  too  much  to  the  violet. 

As  to  Titian*s  method  of  painting,  he  said  the  whole 
subject  was  painted  in  chiaroscuro  with  this  same  blue, 
mixed  with  white  and  terra  rossa,  as  if  painting  with 

1  Vuari  (Int.,  cap.  xxi.)  and  Armenini  mention  that  white  lead  was 
oaad  in  the  groonda. 

*  Zanettly  della  Pittura  Veneziana,  p.  100. 

s  Titian  is  said  to  have  purchased  bis  colours  in  Rialto ;  San  Salvatore  is 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Canal  Grande. 

4  Apothecariea  or  druggists  who  sold  colours. 

»  There  is  proof  that  the  Venetians  did  occasionally  use  ultramarine. 


CXX  INTRODUCTION.  [chap,  vi* 

Indian  ink;  that  the  lights  were  laid  on  with  flesh* 
colour  (red  and  white) ;  the  picture  was  then  laid  aside 
for  several  months  (say  five  or  six);  afterwards  the 
flesh-colour,  consisting  of  terra  rossa,  or  whatever  you 
please,  was  glazed  over  the  flesh,  and  then  the  picture 
was  again  laid  by  to  dry.  I  think  Signor  A.  said 
the  shades  and  half  tints  were  then  painted,  and  the 
picture  again  dried.  The  glazing  was  then  repeated 
until  the  painter  was  satisfied  with  his  work,  setting  the 
picture  aside  between  every  glazing,  until  quite  dry 
and  hard.^  That  the  picture  was  invariably  first 
painted  in  cold  colours,  and  that  the  warm  colours 
were  afterwards  glazed  upon  them.  That  the  whole 
surface  of  the  picture,  when  the  painting  was  completed^ 
was  glazed  over  with  asphaltum  ("spalto  bianco,  bi- 
tume  Hebraico  ").  "But,**  I  remarked,  ^^  if  asphaltum 
is  now  used,  it  is  almost  sure  to  crack."  He  answered, 
"  That  is  because  you  do  not  know  how  to  use  it'* 
He  added,  that  all  Titian's  pictures  were  glazed  with  it. 
The  effect  of  daylight  discernible  in  Titian's  pictures 
was,  he  observed,  produced  by  his  studying  after  the 
life  in  the  public  gardens  and  the  open  air,  and  never 
in  the  darkened  studio.' 

I  asked  whether  placing  the  picture  in  the  sun  made 
any  difference :  he  hesitated.  I  then  related  the  passage 
from  the  letters  of  Rubens,'  giving  the  authority ;  and 
he  admitted  this  was  necessary  to  prevent  the  picture 
becoming  yellow.^ 

He  also  said   it  is  reported  that  Correggio  was   a 

^  The  subject  was  resumed  at  another  interview,  and  is  more  clearly  ex- 
plained in  p.  czziii. 

s  See  Zanetti,  della  Pittura  Veneziana,  p.  99. 

s  See  Cachet,  Lettres  incites  de  P.  P.  Rubens,  1840,  p.  284. 

4  I  had  been  previously  inronned  that  it  was  the  custom  in  Italy  to  place 
pictures  in  the  air,  and  to  expose  them  to  the  heavy  dew,  and  then  to  suffer 
them  to  dry  thoroughly  in  the  sun,  that  this  process  was  carried  on  aller 
every  coat  of  paint,  and  that  it  was  owing  to  this  process  that  the  oil  of  old 
pictures  did  not  become  yellow.  I  have  myself  seen  pictures  so  exposed 
at  Milan. 


mf^tmi 


CHAP.  Ti.]  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  cxxi 

pupil  of  Mautegna's,  but  that  he  was  certain  from  the 
manner  in  which  his  pictures  were  painted,  that  he  was 
a  pupil  of  Giorgione's  or  Pordenone's.  He  said  it 
was  more  difficult  to  imitate  Correggio  than  any 
other  painter.  He  spoke  of  his  (Correggio's)  St  Je- 
rome, at  Parma,  which  he  said  was  the  finest  picture 
ever  painted,  and  stated  that  Correggio  had  painted  the 
figure  of  St.  Jerome  in  two  days.  The  first  day  he 
painted  the  head  and  half  the  body,  passing  from  the 
top  of  the  shoulder  to  the  wrist  with  one  stroke  of  the 
brush.  The  next  day,  he  said,  he  began  at  the  hips  and 
finished  at  the  toes  with  one  stroke  of  the  brush.  "  This 
facility,"  said  he,  "he  obtained  from  painting  in  fresco.** 

I  noticed  that  some  of  his  own  pictures  had  in  places 
that  shrivelled  look  which  is  sometimes  found  on 
Titian's  and  Palma  Vecchio's  pictures,  which  Merimee 
mentions  ^  as  a  proof  that  oil  or  an  oleo-resinous  var- 
nish had  been  used. 

With  regard  to  the  darks  being  raised  above  the 
surface,  he  said  that  in  Correggio's  St  Jerome  before- 
mentioned,  the  blue  drapery  was  the  thickness  of  a 
five  firanc  piece  above  the  rest  of  the  picture.  He 
showed  me  a  copy  he  was  painting  of  Correggio's  Mar- 
riage of  St  Catherine,  which  was  unfinished  and  with- 
out the  glazings.  The  paint  seemed  to  be  dry  and 
hard  as  he  rapped  it  with  his  fingers,  and  did  not  shine, 
excepting  a  portion  of  the  drapery.  A  part  of  the 
Virgin's  red  drapery  was  glazed ;  the  glazing  shone  like 
varnish,  and  was  higher  than  the  lights  —  that  is,  it 
stood  up  with  an  edge  where  it  joined  the  lights.  I 
have  reason  to  think  that  the  vehicle  used  was  amber 
varnish.  I  inquired  what  he  thought  of  Lionardo  da 
Vinci's  different  processes  as  related  by  Lomazzo  and 
others ;  he  said  they  were  "  niente,  niente."  That  he 
(Lionardo)  was  always  experimenting  ("  soffisticare  "), 

I  De  la  Peinture  k  THuilc,  p.  31. 


CXXU  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ti. 

taking  up  his  oils  with  little  bits  of  cotton,  and  so  on, 
but  the  oil  tvas  of  little  consequence  ;  that  when  Titian 
was  asked  about  his  oil,  he  said,  *^  If  you  have  good  oil, 
you  can  make  a  good  picture ;  if  you  have  bad  oil,  you 
can  still  make  a  good  picture.** 

He  observed,  "  the  Englishman  Laurent  (Sir  T. 
Lawrence)  thought  the  secret  consisted  in  wax ;  but 
before  his  death  he  discovered  his  error."  He  also 
observed,  ^'some  use  litharge  and  the  oxides  of  lead 
with  their  oils;  but  nothing  can  be  worse  for  the 
pictures  than  oxides  of  lead,  for  they  will  always 
darken  the  colours."  Signor  A.  also  remarked  that 
the  difference  between  the  methods  of  Titian  and 
Bubens  consisted  in  the  former  glazing  the  whole 
picture,  while  Rubens  only  glazed  parts.  The  nu- 
merous sketches,  however,  left  by  Rubens,  and  the 
testimony  of  various  writers,*  show  that  Rubens  painted 
his  pictures  in  a  different  manner,  Rubens  beginning 
his  pictures  with  rich  browns,  then  the  silver  gray 
shades,  then  the  various  flesh  tints ;  while,  according 
to  Signor  A.,  Titian  began  with  the  cold  colours  and 
finished  with  the  warm ;  each  attaining  transparency  by 
a  different  road. 

He  also  observed  that  the  old  painters  never  used  a 
mahl-stick  on  large  pictures:  that  Rubens  mentions 
being  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  one  in  his  old  age 
and  in  declining  health.'  He  allowed  that  the  Dutch 
used  them  on  small  easel  pictures  ;^  and  he  said  that 
the  great  painters  used  brushes  with  long  handles,  and 
stood  at  a  great  distance  from  their  pictures  ;^  that  the 

^  RubenB*  method  of  coloaring  is  described  at  some  length  by  Mr.  East-  I 

lake,  *  Materials/  &c.,  408,  409,  483, 494r-508,  516—538.  ! 

*  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  this  fact  is  related  by  Rubens  in  one  of  his  letters.  ' 

s  Cespides  mentions  a  mahl-stick  among  the  implements  necessary  for  a  | 

painter.     See  Pacheco,  p.  895. 

<  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  case  with  Velasquez,  and  in  modem 
times  with  our  own  Gainsborough.  Vasari  recommends  that  the  cartoon 
sljiould  be  drawn  with  a  picco  of  charcoal  fixed  into  a  long  cane.  ! 


1.  ^ 


CHAP.  VI.]  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  cxxnl 

practice  of  keeping  a  youth  drawing  for  years  with 
a  hard  point  (a  pencil)  was  very  injurious  to  his  pro- 
gress as  a  painter ;  that  he  should  be  taught  to  draw 
with  his  brush,  which  was  flexible  and  elastic  at  the 
point,  and  which  gives  freedom  and  facility  of  execu- 
tion ;  and  that  there  was  no  practice  so  good  to  form  a 
painter  as  fresco  painting.  He  added,  if  a  man  is  not 
a  good  painter  at  the  age  of  18  or  20,  he  never  will  be, 
because  he  will  be  too  timid  to  work  with  proper 
boldness. 

Signor  A.  called  on  me  again,  and  1  inquired  fur- 
ther respecting  the  method  of  Titian.  He  told  me 
that  Titian  began  by  painting  in  the  flesh  in  chiaro- 
scuro with  a  mixed  tint,  formed  of  biadetto,  biacca,  and 
a  very  little  terra  rossa.  He  then  painted  the  lights 
with  flesh  colour,  and  laid  by  the  picture  to  dry. 
After  5  or  6  months  he  glazed  the  flesh  with  terra 
rossa  and  let  it  dry.  He  then  painted  in  the  shades 
transparently  (that  is,  without  any  white  in  the  sha- 
dows), using  a  great  deal  of  asphaltum  with  them. 
Signor  A.  then  stated  that  Titian  always  represented 
his  subjects  surrounded  by  daylight,  and  reflected  upon 
by  surrounding  objects.  He  also  said  that  in  a  blue 
drapery  he  painted  the  shades  with  lake,  and  then  laid 
on  the  lights  [with  white].  That  these  colours  were 
laid  on  with  great  body,  and  when  dry  he  took  a  large 
brush  and  Spread  the  biadetto  over  the  whole.  ^  Signor 
A.  also  told  me  that  the  beautiful  green  used  by  the 
Venetian  painters  was  an  artificial  pigment  formed  of 
copper  and  vitriol  (he  said  he  could  not  describe  it 

1  Si^.  Palmaroli  (note  to  Marcucci,  p.  280  n.)  states  that  he  sacceeded 
in  imitating  certain  bine  tints  in  draperies  by  Titian  and  Paolo  Veronese, 
hj  drawing  and  painting  the  shadows  very  transparently  with  the  usual 
brown  tint,  broken  with  lake,  next  to  these  the  blue  tint  composed  of  smal- 
tino  and  a  little  verdigris.  The  lights  were  painted  with  white  and  ultra- 
marine  and  a  little  verdigris,  and  when  dry  the  whole  was  glazed  with 
ultramarine  mixed  with  varnish. 


CXXIV  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

more  accurately  because  he  did  not  understand  che- 
mistry), called  verde  lavita,  or  verde  vita,  which  was 
sold  so  cheap  that  it  might  almost  be  said  to  be  worth 
nothing.^  He  added,  that  all  the  colours  used  by  the 
Venetians  were  cheap  and  common ;  but  that  they 
were  made  valuable  by  their  mode  of  using  them.  He 
said,  "  You  may  use  the  biadetto .  as  I  have  directed 
you  with  all  the  Venetian  impasto,  but  in  two  years 
it  will  become  green"*  (meaning  to  say  it  could  only  be 
used  with  his  vehicle,  which  he  did  not  describe).  I 
said  that  in  England  painters  mixed  varnish  with  the 
colours,  and  that  the  pictures  cracked.  He  replied, 
"  that  was  because  they  painted  with  the  colours  mixed 
with  varnish  before  the  under  colours  were  dry ;"  but, 
he  added,  painters  did  not  all  adopt  Titian's  manner ; 
some  could  paint  a  picture  in  four  hours;  Bubens 
painted  his  Descent  in  nine  days ;  and  painters  could 
so  temper  their  colours  that  they  could  complete  a 
picture  as  fast  as  their  hands  could  execute  it;  that 
their  vehicle  gave  them  complete  command  over  their 
materials,  and  that  every  one  added  more  or  less  of 
"  certe  droghe "  (certain  drugs),  according  to  their 
convenience  and  manner  of  working. 

Sig.  A.  has  an  accurate  and  most  extensive  know- 
ledge of  all  the  writers  on  painting,  and  seems  to  know 
every  thing  in  these  authors  that  bears  on  technical 
points.  He  quoted  passages  from  Vasari,  Ridolfi, 
Bellori,  Zanetti,  Guarienti's  *Abecedario,*  &c.!  I  asked 
him  whether  he  knew  anything  of  Errante's  paintings 
at  Rome,  and  of  the  work  he  had  written,'  the  object 
of  which  was  to  recommend  the  addition  of  ground 

*  The  Venetians  used  "verde  eterno,"  which  is  crystallised  or  puri- 
fied verdigris,  sometimes  called  distilled  verdigris. 

2  It  is  well  known  that  biadetto  and  other  blues  from  copper  cannot  be 
used  with  oil  without  turning  green.  See  Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  52.  Paolo 
Veronese  frequently  mixed  them  with  size  instead  of  oil.  See  Boschini, 
Ricche  Minere ;  and  Baldinucci,  Vita  di  Paolo  Veronese. 

3  Saggio  sui  Colon,  del  Cav.  D.  Giuseppe  Errante,  Roma,  1817. 


CHAP,  vij  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  CXXV 

rock-crystal  and  "  sraalti "  to  the  colours.  Sig.  J^.. 
replied,  that  it  was  "  Niente,  niente,"  and  added,  "  see 
what  his  pictures  become  in  a  few  years,"  But  he  did 
not  explain  in  what  respect  the  pictures  had  suffered. 

Sig.  A.  showed  me  a  picture  by  Bamboccio  (Peter 
Van  Laer),  and  at  the  same  time  informed  me  he  pos- 
sessed a  black  mirror  which  was  used  by  this  artist 
in  painting,  and  in  which  the  subject  was  reflected, 
"  exactly,"  he  said,  "  like  a  Flemish  landscape ;"  **  and 
then,"  he  added,  "  they  had  only  to  paint  what  they 
saw  in  the  mirror."^  This  mirror  was  bequeathed  by 
Bamboccio  to  Caspar  Poussin ;  by  the  latter  to  some 
other  painter,  until  it  ultimately  came  into  the  hands 
of  Sig.  A. 

In  order  to  prevent  insects  from  eating  the  panels, 
Sig.  A.  stated  that  roche-alum  should  be  mixed  with 
die  grounds.  He  also  told  me  that  to  destroy  the 
insects  which  had  already  got  into  the  wood  or  ground  of 
pictures,  some  assafoetida  and  sulphur  should  be  burnt 
in  an  open  vessel,  over  which  the  back  of  the  picture 
should  be  placed  at  a  proper  distance ;  the  whole  should 
be  then  covered  in,  so  as  to  enclose  the  smoke  arising 
fit)m  these  ingredients,  which  will  effectually  destroy 
the  insects.  The  picture  may  afterwards  be  washed,  if 
necessary,  but  the  sulphur  will  not  injure  the  painting. 
Assafoetida  and  garlic  were  both  used  by  the  old 
masters  for  these  purposes.^ 

Sig  A.  thinks  the  old  masters  used  madder-lake,  and 
that  they  burned  it  to  make  it  darker. 

Verona. — ^We  breakfasted  this  morning  with  Count 
-,  who  had  invited  an  artist,  principally  employed 


in  restoring  pictures,  to  meet  us.     Among  other  things 
this  artist  said  that  ultramarine  was  the  only  blue  pig- 

1  See  Du  Fresnoy,  de  Arte  Graphica,  1.  286,  and  the  Commentary  of 
I>e  Piles. 

*  See  Pacheco,  Tratado,  p.  382,  &c.     Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  49. 


cxxvi  INTBOPUCnON.  [chap.  yx. 

ment  used  by  the  old  masters.  That  they  did  not  use 
red-lead,  but  other  colours  mixed  to  imitate  it;  that 
the  Venetians  used  cochineal  lakes.  That  if  they  laid 
oil  upon  oiV  they  waited  a  year  between  each  painting. 
That  there  are  few  painters  who  have  painted  so  many 
times  over  their  pictures  as  Titian;  that  he  did  not 
apply  asphaltum  over  the  surface  of  the  picture,  but  that 
he  used  a  yellow  varnish ;  that  the  old  masters  did  not 
use  oil-varnish  in  painting;  that  if  new  pictures  were 
exposed  to  the  sun  they  would  crack  to  a  certainty, 
unless  they  were  previously  wetted,  when  the  process 
might  be  repeated  several  times.  (This  reminds  me  of 
what  I  had  been  previously  told  about  exposing  pictures 
to  the  dew  as  well  as  to  the  sun.)  That  the  canvass 
was  never  primed  on  both  sides.  He  stated  that  he 
had  found  on  a  picture  of  Titian's  a  coat  of  thin  gesso, 
then  a  coat  of  very  strong  glue,  made  from  pig's^skin, 
very  hard  and  shining,  upon  which  the  picture  was 
painted.'  I  inquired  whether  the  plan  described  by 
Sig.  A.,  of  getting  in  the  chiaro-scuro  with  a  blueish 
tint,  was  that  of  Titian  ?  He  said  it  was  not  That 
he  painted  his  pictures  first  with  colours  of  great  body, 
and  then  finished  with  glazings.  Sig.  A.  also  said  he 
painted  his  colours  with  great  body  at  first  This  artist 
mentioned  a  kind  of  strong  glue  called  crooante^  the 
nature  of  which  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertato^ 
He  prepared  his  linseed-oil  first  by  straining  it ;  he 
then  put  white-lead  into  a  sieve  and  filtered  the  oil 
through  it,  when  all  impurities  remained  behind  in  the 
lead,  but  he  never  boiled  it  He  always  found  that 
Guimet's  ultramarine,  mixed  with  this  oil,  turned  black. 

1  To  understand  this  expression,  it  is  necessary  to  state  that  I  had  been 
previously  informed  that  the  Venetians  painted  the  solid  colours  at  once 
with  oil,  and  finished  with  varnish,  so  that  one  layer  of* colour  mixed  with 
oil  was  not  laid  on  another. 

s  That  this  coat  of  bard  glue  b  frequently  laid  between  the  ground  and 
the  picture  is  proved  by  Edwards's  Report,  p.  888.  This  glue  rendered 
the  ground  non-absorbent,  or  which  he  did  not  appmve. 


OHAP.  VI.]  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  CXXVll 

Venice.^— I  was  introduced  to  Sig.  B.,  an  artist 
who  had  been  long  employed  in  restoring  the  public 
pictures.  He  had  then  just  dead-coloured  a  copy  he 
was  making  of  a  picture  by  Gian  Bellino.  The  dead* 
colouring  of  the  flesh  was  not  so  blue  in  the  shades  as 
Sig.  A.'s.  There  was  more  red  with  it ;  indeed  the 
dead*colouring  seemed  conducted  exactly  in  the  same 
manner  as  I  have  seen  it  done  by  artists  in  England . 
The  blue  drapery  was  dead-coloured  with  bleu  de 
Berlin.  The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  information 
I  obtained  from  this  artist. 

1.  The  grounds  consisted  of  nothing  but  gesso  and 
glue,  which  absorbed  the  superfluous  oil. 

2.  The  dead*colouring  was  always  painted  with  cold 
colours,  the  lights  white,  and  the  shades  warm  ;^  you 
may  then  make  your  picture  any  thing  you  please. 

3.  The  warm  colours  were  always  glazed,  over  the 
more  solid  tints. 

4.  The  vehicle  he  used  for  every  part  of  the  picture 
was  linseed*oil,  boiled  on  lithai^e,  which  was  of  a  high 
colour,  indeed  almost  black,  and  which  he  purchased  in 
bottles  imported  from  Germany.  He  also  showed  me 
another  bottle  containing  linseed-oil  thickened  in  the 
sun,  and  mixed  with  lithai^e ;  more  than  half  the  con- 
tents of  this  last  bottle  was  a  black  sediment  He  said 
he  required  nothing  thinner  to  dilute  the  colours ;  he 
never  used  spirit  of  turpentine  or  varnish  in  painting. 
He  used  bladder-colours.  The  lake  he  mixed  with  his 
boiled  oil,  and  it  stood  up  on  the  palette,  and  when  put 
on  his  nail  did  not  flow.  He  said  he  exposed  his 
pictures  to  the  sun  after  every  process  of  painting ;  that 
this  never  occasioned  their  cracking,  and  that  he  did 
not  wet  them  before  exposing  them  to  the  sun.  He 
paints  on  the  plan   always  observed  in  the  Venetian 

I  The  first  shades  in  the  picture  he  was  copying  were  painted  in  cold 
coloun.  He  must  have  meant  that  the  shades  when  finished  were  to  be 
warm. 


cxxviii  INTRODUCTION.  [ch^-  ▼»• 

school.  He  does  not  know  the  Flemish  method,  or 
that  of  Rubens.  He  knows  that  his  own  method  is 
that  pursued  by  the  Venetians,  from  the  frequent 
opportunities  he  has  had  of  observation  when  cleaning 
their  pictures.  Sig.  B.  said  that  Titian  did  put  red 
shades  under  his  blue  draperies.^  He  also  said,  ^'  If 
you  paint  your  half  tints  cold,  your  shades  warm, 
and  your  lights  white,  you  may  glaze  your  picture 
to  whatever  tone  you  like.*' 

Sig.  B.  observed  that  the  Venetians  used  little 
besides  earths,  and  never  orpiment;  but  that  the 
modern  Romans  use  it  in  great  quantity. 

There  was  a  most  beautiful  deep  lake-coloured 
drapery  in  an  old  picture  in  the  room  where  he  was 
painting.  I  asked  with  what  colour  was  that  done? 
He  shook  his  head,  and  said  he  did  not  know,  but  that 
the  dead-colouring  was  done  with  much  white,  and 
when  dry  it  was  glazed  with  lake  until  it  was  suffi- 
ciently dark. 

I  asked  why  in  old  pictures  the  darks  were  always 
raised  higher  than  the  lights  ?  He  said  it  was  because 
the  painters  went  over  them  a  great  many  times.  I 
remarked  that  the  blues  are  always  more  in  relief  than 
any  other  colour.  In  this  he  agreed,  but  assigned  no 
further  reason.  His  knowledge  seemed  entirely  practi- 
cal, and  his  practice  derived  from  his  restorations  of 
old  pictures.  He  said  Titian  used  asphaltum,  and 
that  blue  draperies  were  glazed  with  ultramarine. 

Sig.  C,  another  artist,  who  had  been  frequently 
employed  during  the  last  thirty  years  in  restoring  the 
public  pictures  at  Venice,  informed  me  that  Titian 
generally  painted  on  a  ground  of  glue  and  gesso,  but 
great  care  was  necessary,  when  this  ground  was  used  on 
canvass,  to  make  it  soft  and  pliant ;  the  best  means  of 

1  See  p.  czziii.y  cziix. 


CBAP.  vx.]  PRACTICE  OF  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  cxxix. 

securing  this  was  to  add  some  miUc  to  the  glue  and 
gesso.  That  the  use  of  this  gesso  ground  was  to  absorb 
the  superfluous  oil. 

He  also  observed,  that  Titian  sometimes  used  a 
ground  composed  of  terra  rossa,  with  oil.  That  he 
laid  in  the  subject  in  the  natural  colours,  or  as  nearly 
as  he  could  to  nature,  only  much  fainter,  and  thin  of 
colour,  and  when  dry  painted  in  the  colours  more 
solidly;  but  that  he  always  painted  the  shades  cold. 
He  then  put  the  picture  by  for  a  year,  and  corrected 
it  by  glazing.  That  Titian  generally  used  nothing  but 
oil ;  that  he  sometimes  went  seven,  eight,  or  nine  times 
over  the  same  part,'  with  oil  glazings,  which  is  the 
reason  why  his  paintings  become  more  yellow  than 
others ;  that  he  sometimes  glazed  with  varnish.  That 
he  did  not  put  red  under  the  shades  of  his  blue 
draperies ;  but  that  when  this  appearance  was  perpeived 
it  arose  from  his  having  used  a  red  ground,  and  when 
the  blue  became  thin  by  being  rubbed  oS,  the  red 
ground  appeared  through.  That  the  blue  used  formerly 
was  called  **  Turchino,"  that  it  may  still  be  purchased, 
that  some  old  painters  still  use  it,  and  that  it  is  very 
apt  to  turn  green.  I  mentioned  that  Baldinucci  said 
that  Paul  Veronese  laid  on  the  blue  in  distemper.  He 
said  it  was  the  fact,  and  that  many  restorers  did  not 
know  it  until  they  found  it  out  by  taking  off  the  colour 
unintentionally  in  cleaning  it  That  some  of  Paul 
Veronese's  blues  turned  green;  but  those  that  best 
retained  their  colour  were  found  to  have  been  painted 
in  distemper. 

Sig.  C.  observed  that  Titian  and  Paul  Veronese  both 
painted  ^^  con  colori  di  corpo,"  that  they  suffered  the 
colours  to  dry  thoroughly  before  they  painted  on  them 
again,  and  this  hard,  dry  body  of  colours  enabled  them 
to  apply  the  glazings  and  sfregazzi.* 

I  See  Zanetti,  della  Pittun  Veneziana,  p.  102.        *  See  note,  p.  879. 
VOL.  I.  i 


CXXX  INTEODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

That  the  brilliant  reds  were  obtained  by  glazing  lake 
over  terra  rossa ;  that  the  terra  rossa  they  had  formerly 
is  now  lost ;  that  the  best  is  now  brought  from  Spain.^ 

That  for  a  green  drapery,  Titian  began  with  terra 
verde,  with,  perhaps,  giallolino  for  the  lights.  When 
dry  he  glazed  the  whole  with  verdigris,  and  the  shades 
with  asphaltum ;  both  these  colours  might  be  rubbed  in 
with  the  hand.  Sometimes  he  glazed  with  asphaltum 
without  the  verdigris,  when  he  required  awarm  rich  green* 

That  asphaltum  could  be  easily  dissolved  for  use  in 
spirit  of  turpentine. 

That  litharge  mixed  with  oils  was  very  bad  for  the 
picture;  and  that  it  corroded  the  paint,  as  well  as 
darkened  the  colours. 

I  saw  Sig.  G.  on  the  following  day,  when  I  again 
cros^-ezamined  him.  The  following  is  the  substance  of 
the  replies  elicited : — 

That  he  had  never  heard  of  mixing  powdered  glass 
with  oil  or  colours. 

That  he  had  heard  of  encaustic  painting,  but  not  of 
mixing  wax  with  oil. 

That  he  had  never  heard  of  dissolving  resins  in  oil, 
and  thus  making  an  oil  varnish.^ 

1  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  red  earth,  called  sinopia,  was  a  finer 
colour  than  any  of  the  iron  ores  now  in  use  as  pigments.  I  have  frcquenti j 
noticed  a  red  of  this  description  on  old  mural  paintings  in  Italy,  and  I  haye 
also  seen  specimens  of  a  fine  red  colour  in  a  dry  state  in  a  volume  of  draw- 
ings by  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  in  the  possession  of  Sig.  G.  Yallardi,  at  Milan. 
Some  of  these  drawings  had  been  executed  on  the  paper  of  which  the 
books  used  for  keeping  leaf  gold  were  made.  Before  the  gold  was  laid  iu 
these  books,  the  leaves  were  rubbed  over  with  dry  sinopia,  as  we  read  in 
Theophilus  (lib.  i.  cap.  24),  and  the  above  instance  proves  that  the  custom 
was  continued  in  Italy  at  least  until  the  time  of  Lionardo  da  Vinci. 

'  As  far  as  I  could  ascertain,  oleo-resinous  varnishes  are  not  only  obsolete 
in  the  north  of  Italy,  but  they  appear  to  be  almost  entirely  foi^tten. 
When  living  artists  mentioned  the  colours  being  mixed  with  oil  and  varnish, 
they  always  alluded  to  the  mixture  of  an  essential  oil-varnish  with  linseed 
or  nut-oil.  In  one  instance  only  had  I  reason  to  think  an  oleo-resinous  Tar-- 
nish  was  habitually  employed  by  a  living  artist. 


CHAP.  VI.]  PRACTICE  OF  TkE  OLD  MASTERS.  CXXXl 

That  he  had  never  heard  of  placing  pictures  in  the 
sun,  unless  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  cracking  a  new 
picture  to  make  it  look  like  an  old  one. 

That  the  reason  why  old  pictures  cannot  be  repaired 
with  oil  colours,  is  that  the  oil  in  the  old  picture  has 
undergone  all  its  changes,  that  the  new  tints  are  made 
to  match  die  old  with  oil  that  will  change ;  and  when 
this  change  takes  place  the  colours  darken,  and  cease 
to  match  the  old  paint. 

That  all  restorations  are  now  done  with  colours  mixed 
with  varnish ;  that  Sig.  Pietro  Edwards  was  the  first 
who  introduced  this  practice. 

Sig.  C.  then  remarked  that  the  reason  why  spirit  of 
wine  dissolved  old  oil  paintings,  and  not  new  ones 
painted  entirely  in  oil,  was  because  the  greater  part  of 
the  oil  was  dried  up,  and  no  more  remained  in  the 
picture  than  was  sufficient  to  hold  the  paint  together. 
In  other  words,  that  the  oil  of  the  old  picture  was  con- 
verted into  a  resin,  and,  like  other  resins,  was  soluble 
in  spirit  of  wine. 

That  the  Venetians  did  not  paint  on  gold  grounds 
after  the  time  of  Titian. 

That  the  Venetians  sometimes  laid  a  coat  of  white- 
lead  and  oil  over  the  gesso  ground. 

With  regard  to  the  use  of  ultramarine,  he  observed 
that  it  was  occasionally  used  by  the  Venetians,  chiefly 
on  easel  pictures.  That  as  this  colour  was  a  stone,  and 
Dot  a  metal,  it  never  changed  colour ;  but  that  if  used 
with  oil,  in  time  the  oil  would  dry  and  leave  it,  and 
the  colour  would  come  off  in  powder.  That  it  should 
be  used  in  distemper,  and  then  it  would  last ;  that  all 
those  painters  whose  blues  have  stood,  have  applied 
them  in  distemper. 

He  also  stated  that  the  lake  used  by  the  Venetian 
painters  was  called  "Xacca  di  Cambaneri  o  di  Ver- 
zino  ;"*  that  it  may  still  be  purchased  at  Venice ;  that 

♦ _^, ^ 

1  If  thic  lake  was  niadei)f  Tendno,  it  should  probably  have  been  called 
'*  Lacca  ColombiDa." 

i  2 


CXXXU  INTBODUCTION.  [chap,  vl 

it  was  always  glazed,  and  used  with  varnish  ;  that  it  will 
not  stand  with  oil.  That  the  blue  tinge  of  the  lake  in 
old  pictures  was  occasioned  by  adding  blue  to  the  lake. 

That  the  Venetians  and  Titian  glazed  with  varnish. 

That  red-lead  might  be  used  with  boiled  oil,  because 
as  the  oil  was  already  oxidised  to  the  highest  degree,  it 
would  not  de-oxidise  the  red-lead  (deut-oxide  of  lead), 
which  would  therefore  not  change. 

He  said  also  that  Paolo  Veronese  had  originally 
glazed  his  red-leads  with  giallolino,  which  had  been  re- 
moved in  cleaning ;  and  that  the  rich  bright  yellow  colour 
I  had  noticed  in  P.  Veronese's  picture  was  gamboge« 

That  the  Venetians  of  the  present  day  make  great 
use  of  madder-lake ;  and  that  the  old  Venetian  school 
also  possessed  this  pigment,  because  the  madder-plant 
grows  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Venice.* 

Sig.  G.  also  informed  me  that  Titian  glazed  much 
with  asphaltum,  and  that  in  glazing  he  used  an  essential 
oil  varnish,  such  as  aqua  di  ragia.' 

He  stated  also,  that  the  very  fine  hair-like  cracks  in 
old  pictures  were  the  effect  of  time  only.' 

He  mentioned  that  distemper  was  frequently  em- 
ployed on  early  oil-pictures,  particularly  on  parts  that 
it  was  feared  would  turn  yellow,  such  as  white  linen. 

With  regard  to  the  method  of  Titian,  he  observed 
that  Titian  always  softened  the  shades  of  flesh  with  his 
fingers ;  and  that  he  used  sometimes  nut-oil,  and  some- 
times linseed-oil,  and  sometimes  both  together;  but 
that  linseed-oil  was  the  best,  because  the  nut-oil  soon 
became  rancid,  and  when  mixed  with  the  colours  under- 
went a  sort  of  fermentation. 

^  This  reasoning  is  not  conclusive,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  Yenetiiui 
madder  was  not  the  best,  since  in  1565  madder  was  imported  for  dyeing  faj 
the  Venetians  from  Flanders,  under  the  name  of  **  robbia  o  vero  roza  di 
Fiandra.'*    See  <  Libra  intitolato  Plicto,'  Venezia,  1565. 

*  If  this  be  true,  whence  arise  the  wrinkles  so  frequent!/  observed  on 
Titian*s  pictures,  which  can  only  take  place  on  the  tough  surface  of  the  oil  ? 

3  If  so,  why  do  not  those  of  Van  Eyck,  Lucas  Van  Leyden,  Hamme- 
link,  Antonello  da  Messina,  Francesco  Francia»  and  others  of  that  period 
crack  also  ? 


CHAP.  VI.]  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  CXXXUl 

From  what  this  gentleman  said  I  collect  that  he 
deems  the  rapid  drying  of  the  vehicle  to  be  of  the  first 
importance  to  the  permanence  of  the  colours,  which 
were  not  likely  to  change  when  once  dry,  and  that  it  is 
better  to  use  a  dark-coloured  oil  which  will  not  change 
than  any  of  a  lighter  colour  which  will  change. 

Sig.  D.,  an  eminent  artist,  called  on  me  this  evening 
for  the  purpose  of  describing  the  methods  of  painting 
practised  by  Titian  and  others  of  the  Venetian  school. 

He  began  by  stating  that  the  only  artists  to  be  con- 
sidered as  examples  in  the  mechanical  part  of  the  art 
are  Gian  Bellino^  Giorgione,  Titian,  Bonifazio,  and  the 
two  Bassans.  That  the  decline  of  the  art  is  to  be 
attributed  to  Tintoretto,  who,  to  save  expense,  used 
bad  colours  in  his  immense  pictures,  and  to  Falma 
Giovane. 

The  following  was  the  plan  generally  adopted  by 
the  first-mentioned  artiste  :— 

The  grounds  were  made  with  gesso  and  a  very  thin 
glue ;  sometimes  a  little  black  was  added  to  this  by 
Gian  Bellino  and  others.  Over  this  one  or  two  coate 
of  glue  were  applied  to  prevent  the  ground  being  too 
absorbent 

The  glue  was  made  of  parings  of  leather. 

An  analysis  of  some  pictures  by  Gian  Bellino 
showed  they  were  painted  in  the  following  manner  and 
order : — 

The  ground  as  above. 

Then  the  outline  with  ink. 

The  chiaroscuro  painted  very  thin  with  brown. 

Then  the  first  flesh  colour,  very  rosy,  the  colour 
being  spread  thin. 

Second  coat  of  flesh  colour  made  browner,  with  more 
yellow,  also  very  thin. 

Third  coat  thin,  and  with  more  white,  to  match  the 
complexion. 


CXXXIV  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

This  manner  of  painting  keeps  the  flesh  light  and 
clear,  because  it  permits  the  white  grounds  and  the 
rosy  tints  to  be  seen  through.' 

These  colours  are  all  mixed  with  oil,  but  the  coats 
of  paint  being  so  thin,  the  colours  dry  quickly  and  hard 
before  the  oil  has  had  time  to  become  rancid. 

The  flesh  was  finished  with  glazings  of  asphaltum. 

Draperies. — ^The  lights  and  shades  strongly  con- 
trasted, the  lights  pure  white  or  nearly  so. 

The  darks  consisted  of  the  pure  colour. 

Then  the  glazings  with  the  local  transparent  colours. 

The  whole  figure,  drapery,  &c.,  finished  with  glazings 
of  asphaltum  and  terra  di  Cologna,*  not  much  burnt 

Asphaltum  was  mixed  with  olio  di  sasso  (naphtha) 
or  spirit  of  turpentine. 

No  part  of  paintings  in  oil  was  executed  in  distemper. 

Titian  generally  began  his  pictures  like  Giau  Bellino, 
but  instead  of  painting  the  flesh  three  times  only,  he 
painted  over  it  four,  five,  or  six  times ;  consequently 
the  ground  would  not  absorb  all  the  superfluous  oil, 
which  rose  to  the  top  and  darkened  the  picture. 

That  he  frequently  laid  on  the  paint  with  his  fingers. 

That  he  did  not  paint  with  a  thick  coat  of  colour, 
but  always  used  his  colours  thin,  for  the  reason  given 
above. 

That  he  frequently  covered  the  whole  picture  except 
the  white  linen  with  asphaltum. 

He  painted  no  part  in  distemper. 

Bonifazio  glazed  more  than  any  of  the  others. 

Giorgione  began  like  Gian  Bellino  and  Titian.  Did 
not  lay  in  any  part  of  the  picture  with  distemper. 

Paolo  Veronese  painted  generally  alia  prima  with 

^  As  to  the  lights  in  early  oil  paintings  being  semi- opaque,  see  Mr.  East- 
lake's  *  Materials/  &c.,  p.  408. 

*  I  am  not  aware  that  Cologne  earth  is  mentioned  in  Italian  works,  at 
least  previous  to  the  17th  century.  The  colour  might  have  been  terra  di 
Campagna. 


BESKSI 


CHAP.  ▼!.]  PRACTICE  OF  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  CXXXV 

more  body  than  Titian  (whose  patience  he  a|»peared  to 
want),  so  that  the  finished  picture  was  little  more  than 
the  abbozzo ;  that  is,  that  he  painted  up  his  picture  at 
once. 

That  he  did  not  employ  distemper  on  his  pictures  ; 
but  with  regard  to  the  appearance  of  distemper  ob- 
served on  his  pictures,  it  had  been  remarked  that  the 
pictures  in  the  churches  in  Venice  that  had  hung  on 
south  walls  for  a  great  many  years  had  the  appearance 
of  tempera  paintings  because  the  sun  had  dried  up  all 
the  oUj  and  that  the  colours  of  these  pictures  would 
wash  off  with  water. 

That  the  old  Venetians  always  exposed  their  pictures 
to  the  sun,  and  the  dew  even,  for  five  or  six  months,  in 
order  to  prevent  their  becoming  yellow  ;  that  he  himself 
had  always  done  this,  and  without  the  least  injury  to 
his  pictures. 

That  he  had  never  found  glue,  &c.,  between  the  pic- 
ture and  the  varnish  in  old  pictures,  but  that  this  was 
the  modern  practice,  because  the  varnish  spread  and 
adhered  better  on  the  glue  than  on  the  oil. 

He  said  also  that  Daniara  varnish  has  been  found  in 
old  pictures,  and  not  nuzsticj  which  is  modern.^ 

That  varnish  is  found  mixed  with  the  paint  and  oil 
in  old  pictures. 

That  he  had  never  heard  of  colours  having  been 
mixed  with  vernice  liquida,  as  described  by  Cane- 
parius,*  and  thinks  this  practice  must  have  been  intro- 
duced after  the  decline  of  the  art. 

Sig.  D.  also  mentioned  that  Chilone,  an  old  painter 
who  died  about  seven  or  eight  years  ago,  was  acquainted 
with  Canal  and  Canaletto,  and  that  he  had  told  Sig.  D. 
that  these  artists  used  oil  boiled  on  litharge,  and  re- 


*  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  remark  that   mastic  was  used  by  the  old 
masters,  and  that  Damara  resin  appears  to  be  only  recently  introduced. 

*  Canepario  was  a  Venetian  physician.     His  work,  De  Atramentis,  was 
published  in  London  in  1660. 


CXXXVi  INTRODUCTION.  [chip.vi. 

commended  him  to  use  it  also,  and  that  they  frequently 
spread  it  over  the  whole  picture. 

That  mastic  varnish  was  sure  to  crack  if  used  in 
painting  pictures,  but  that  Damara  varnish  was  not  so 
strong  and  would  not  crack. 

The  reason  the  darks  stood  higher  than  the  lights  on 
old  pictures  was  because  the  painter  went  over  them  so 
often,  and  generally  mixed  varnish  with  them. 

He  said  the  oil  always  rose  to  the  surface  of  the 
picture  and  dried  dark;  that  they  (the  restorers  of 
pictures)  take  off  this  crust  of  oil  with  potash. 

That  the  green  used  by  the  Venetians  was  veri 
etemOj  and  when  used  with  oil  the  sur&ce  turns  black ; 
that  when  cleaning  pictures  the  crust  is  scraped  off  and 
the  green  beneath  is  found  as  fine  a  colour  as  ever. 

He  told  me  also  that  he  had  made  experiments  by 
taking  off  some  of  the  colours  with  a  knife,  and  had 
had  them  analysed  by  a  very  skiliul  chemist  (now 
dead). 

The  following  are  the  colours  he  has  found  on  Vene- 
tian pictures  of  the  best  period : — 

White-lead,  yellow,  red,  and  other  earths,  ultra- 
marine, native  cinnabar,^  cinabro  d*011anda,  verd' 
eterno,  Cologne  earth,  asphaltum,  lakes  of  kermes  and 
madder ;  Naples  yellow,  very  seldom  used ;  orpiment, 
used  by  Bonifazio  only ;  red-lead,  very  seldom  used, 
and  always  with  varnish ;  biadetto  and  verzino  lake, 
used  by  Tintoretto  only ;  verd'  eterno  and  lake,  always 
laid  on  with  varnish. 

Sig.  D.  stated  that  he  had  found  no  blue  but  ultra- 
marine, and  the  reason  this  colour  was  raised  so  much 
above  the  surface  of  the  pictures  on  draperies  was  that 
it  was  used  very  thick,  because  as  it  was  coarsely 
ground  it  would  otherwise  look  granular  and  show  the 
white  through. 

1  Probably  the  hard  red  bcemaUte,  which  was  called  '*  cinabro  mioefale'* 
by  the  Italians. 


eHAF.  T1.3  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTEBS.  CXXXvil 

With  regard  to  the  grinding  of  the  colours,  he  ob- 
served that  the  Venetians  did  not  grind  their  colours 
fine,  and  that  he  has  often  picked  out  large  grains  of 
different  colours  which  he  has  had  analysed. 

As  to  the  propriety  of  early  varnishing,  he  said 
that  the  Venetians  did  not  varnish  their  pictures 
soon  after  finishing  if  they  could  avoid  it,  but  that 
early  varnishing  was  safer  where  the  coats  of  colour 
had  been  thin  than  where  they  were  laid  on  in  great 
body. 

He  also  remarked  that  many  Venetian  pictures  which 
had  hung  in  churches  on  northern  waUs  had  been 
destroyed  by  damp^^  while  those  on  south  walls  had^ 
by  the  drying  away  of  the  oil,  assumed  the  appearance 
of  paintings  in  distemper. 

In  reply  to  my  inquiry  how  he  had  ascertained  the 
number  of  the  coats  of  colour  on  pictures,  he  replied, 
^^  By  taking  them  off  one  after  another  with  a  knife.'' 

Sig.  D.  told  me  he  generally  used  fresh  linseed-oil 
unboiled;  that  he  had  once  filtered  the  oil  through 
animal  charcoal,  but  that  this  rendered  it  too  thin. 
The  only  preparation  he  used  habitually  was  to  filter 
the  oil  through  four  or  five  sheets  of  paper. 

In  consequence  of  what  Sig.  D.  told  me  concerning 
the  painting  of  Paolo,  I  inquired  of  Sig.  C  whether 
colla  (glue  or  size)  had  ever  been  found  on  the  pictures 
of  Paolo :  he  said,  "  Yes,  certainly."  But  he  did  not 
know  that  it  had  been  found  on  the  oil-paintings  of  any 
other  person.* 

Having  frequently  observed  in   Paolo's  pictures  at 

^  Extraordinary  precautions  were  sometimes  taken  at  Venice  to  defend 
oU-painting8  from  damp.    See  p.  880,  n. 

s  See  Orsini,  Elogio  e  Memorie  di  Pietro  Perugino,  208,  n.,  where  it  is 
stated  that  the  blue  in  a  picture  by  this  artist  at  Montone  was  tempered 
with  flour-paste,  or  starch  (colla  di  farina).  A  part  of  Van  Eyck's  cele« 
brated  altar-piece  at  Ghent  was  painted  in  distemper.  This  discovery  was 
made  aocidentaily  by  some  ignorant  painters  washing  off  the  colour  in  clean- 
ing it    See  also  Pacheco,  Tratado  de  la  Pintura,  p.  873. 


CXUVUi  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  tl 

Venice  that  the  colour  appears  kid  oti  at  once,  the 
dark  threads  of  the  canvass  being  visible  on  great  part 
of  the  picture  without  any  appearance  of  a  ground,  I 
inquired  the  reason  of  this  appearance,  and  why  the 
white  threads  of  the  canvass  should  appear  black.  Sig. 
C.  told  me  it  was  because  Paolo  frequently  painted 
without  any  other  ground  than  a  little  coUoy  just  suffi- 
cient to  bind  the  loose  downy  threads  of  the  canvass 
and  enable  the  brush  to  move  freely ;  that  this  being 
absorbent  the  oil  soaked  into  the  canvass  and  turned  it 
black,  or  nearly  so. 

It  will  perhaps  be  recollected  that  Pozzo,  the  Jesuit, 
generally  painted  without  a  ground,  for  he  said  the 
gesso  caused  the  colours  to  change.*  Callot,  the  Yene- 
tian,  painted  on  the  same  kind  of  ground. 

I  mentioned  having  been  informed  that  Titian  had 
begun  his  pictures  in  chiaroscuro,  and  alluded  to  his 
early  picture  in  the  gallery  Manfrin ;  but  Sig.  C.  would 
not  allow  that  it  was  painted  in  this  manner,  and  he 
denied  that  Titian  ever  began  his  pictures  in  this  way, 
but  that  he  always  laid  in  the  abbozzo  with  the  local 
colours,  but  very  thinly  and  light  in  colour.  In  support 
of  his  opinion  Sig.  C.  said  there  was  an  unfinished  pic- 
ture by  Titian  at  Udine,  in  which  part  of  the  abbozzo 
may  still  be  seen,  having  never  been  covered  over. 
The  S.  Sebastian  in  the  Barbarigo  palace  is  another 
example  by  Titian  of  an  abbozzo  in  his  last  manner. 
From  the  passage  in  Paolo  Pino's  Dialogue  it  appears 
that  the  practice  of  beginning  pictures  in  chiaroscuro 
with  brown  was  discontinued  some  time  previous  to 
1548,  the  date  of  Pino's  work.  The  probability  is  that 
Titian  painted  in  his  youth  in  the  Flemish  manner,  but 
that  he  afterwards  changed  it  to  that  usually  ascribed 
to  him. 

In  the  Manfrini  gallery  is  a  picture  said  to  have  been 
painted  by  Titian  when  he  was  only  sixteen  years  of 

1  See  Lanzi)  vol.  ii.  p.  228. 


CHAP.  VI.]  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTEES.  CXXXIX 

age.  This  picture  is  evidently  painted  in  the  manner 
described  by  Sig.  D.,  that  is,  the  chiaroscuro  with 
brown  and  the  flesh  colours  upon  this ;  the  lights  of  the 
draperies  are  white,  and  the  local  colours  glazed  over  it 
when  dry  :  this  is  seen  where  the  lake  has  been  nearly 
all  rubbed  off. 

I  inquired  of  Sig.  C.  whether  he  had  found  the  de- 
scription given  by  Boschini  *  of  Tintoretto's  method  of 
painting  correct.  He  replied  that  Tintoretto  did  not 
begin  his  pictures  in  chiaroscuro,  but  that  he  made  the 
sketch  in  water-colours  in  chiaroscuro,  and  then  oiled 
it ;  and  when  it  was  dry  he  painted  in  the  local  colours 
with  oil.  Several  of  these  sketches,  he  told  me,  were 
in  the  possession  of  Sig.  Bernardino  Corniani. 

I  inquired  of  Sig.  C.  whether  it  was  true  that  pic- 
tures which  had  been  hurig  for  a  very  long  period  of 
time  (say  100  or  200  years)  on  a  south  wall  were 
found  in  a  diflerent  state  from  tho^e  which  had  hung  on 
other  walls.  He  answered  "Yes:  those  which  have 
been  hung  on  north  walls  are  always  found  destroyed 
by  the  damp,  or  at  least  much  injured ;  because  the 
damp  dissolves  the  glue  of  the  ground  and  the  picture 
scales  off,  while  those  on  the  south  walls  are  always 
found  dried  up  and  burnt  from  the  effects  of  the  sun." 

I  also  inquired  his  authority  for  saying  that  colours 
were  frequently  mixed  with  milk ;  he  replied,  "  It  is 
an  old  tradition  ;  milk  was  much  used  by  the  ancients, 
and  is  mentioned  by  Pliny." 

Another  dliy  I  observed  to  the  same  professor,  if 
the  Venetians  always  required  so  long  a  period  for 
their  colours  to  dry  before  they  laid  on  another  coat  of 
paint,  how  could  those  pictures  be  painted  that  were 
said  to  be  executed  in  so  short  a  time  ?     He  replied 

^  SeeRioche  Minere.  Boschinii  speaking  of  Tintoretto,  says,  **  Abboz- 
zava  U  qoadro  tutto  di  chiaroscuro,  havendo  sempre  oggctto  principalc  di 
coQccrtare  tutta  la  massa  come  s'  b  detto,*'  &c. 


Cxl  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  tt. 

that  Tintoretto  had  painted  his  Crucifixion  entirely  in 
twelve  days,  but  that  he  had  painted  it  up  at  once, 
without  touching  the  same  part  twice,  consequently 
without  glazing.  I  asked  whether  this  picture  was  in 
good  preservation ;  his  answer  was  "  Benone  **  (excel- 
lent). Sig.  G.  told  me  also  this  picture  was  painted 
on  a  ground  of  flour-paste.^ 

Signor  G.  told  me  it  had  been  found  that  Paolo 
Veronese's  pictures  were  painted  in  the  following  man- 
ner and  order : — 

A  ground  of  gesso. 

The  abbozzo. 

The  solid  painting  with  colours  mixed  with  oil. 

A  light  coat  of  varnish. 

Then  the  blues,  vermilions,  red  lead,  and  white 
linen  (biancheria),  as  well  as  the  vermilion  tints  in 
flesh,  were  laid  on  in  distemper,  and  over  the  whole 
picture  was  a  coat  of  varnish.  He  added,  the  tints  in 
distemper  were  so  firmly  united,  that  they  would 
sometimes  bear  washing  twice  without  being  disturbed, 
and  that  the  restorers  were  ignorant  of  the  manner  in 
which  they  were  painted,  until,  having  removed  the 
varnish,  they  found  the  colours  soluble  in  water. 

I  asked,  how  could  the  distemper  colours  be  made 
to  adhere  upon  oil  colours?  He  said  the  distemper 
colours  mixed  with  size  and  milk,  adhered  firmly  to 
the  thin  coat  of  varnish,  before  mentioned. 

Signor  G.  also  said  that  Paolo  used  a  general  tint, 
composed  of  Gologne  earth,  or  some  other  brown  pig- 
ment, a  little  white  lead,  a  little  blue,  and  a  very  little 
terra  rossa,  which  he  spread  thinly  over  the  shadows, 


i  **  La  prontezza  x^  meterse  davanti 
Una  gran  tela,  e  de  farina  propia 
Taminr,  e  impastar  figure  in  copia, 
£  senza  natund,  far  casi  tand." 

BoBchini,  La  Carta  del  Navegar,  p.  339. 


CHAP.  VI.]  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  cxli 

(which  had  been  previously  prepared  with  a  grey  tint,) 
sometimes  a  vdaturc^  sometimes  a  sfregazzOj  and  that 
he  used  this  tint  on  every  part  of  the  picture,  even  on 
the  heads.^ 

Speaking  one  day  of  the  hardness  of  the  old  pic- 
tures, that  when  tried  with  the  file,  they  scaled  ofl^  and 
presented  almost  a  glassy  surface,  Signor  G.  said  he 
had  experienced  this,  but  attributed  it  merely  to  the 
viscous  nature  of  the  oil,  and  the  varnish  with  which 
it  was  mixed. 

He  also  told  me  the  pictures  of  Cima  da  Conegliano 
were  painted  with  solid  colours  in  a  light  key,  and  that 
the  shades  were  laid  on  transparently  with  asphaltum. 
This  also  was  discovered  in  the  cleaning  of  his  pictures ; 
when  the  varnish  was  removed,  the  shades  came  away 
withit^ 

Signor  C.  stated  that  the  colour  so  much  used  by 
Titian  in  shading  was  not,  as  is  generally  supposed, 
terra  rossa,  but  terra  di  Siena,  burnt  to  different  shades 
of  colour,  from  yellowish  brown  to  almost  black. 

I  asked  whether  Titian  had  painted  in  tempera  on 
his  oil-paintings?  Signor  C.  said  No ;  Paolo  Veronese 
being  aware  that  oil  darkened  the  colours,  had  employed 
tempera:  but  he  did  not  know  of  any  other  who  had 
done  so.  I  inquired  whether  Paolo  glazed  much  ? 
He  answered,  "  Very  little,  and  in  the  shades  only." 

Did  he  use  asphaltum  ?  No^  not  that  he  was  aware 
of.  But  Tintoretto  used  it  extensively,  and  some  few 
used  mommiOy  but  it  was  not  generally  approved  of. 

With  regard  to  the  use  of  oil,  Signor  G.  said  that 
Titian  had  used  more  oil  than  other  artists  of  the  same 
period ;  that  he  frequently  glazed  with  oil,  although  he 
sometimes  used  varnish. 

1  See  Zanetti,  della  Pittura  Venesdana,  p.  164. 

'  I  obaerved  that  the  blue  draperies  in  the  pictures  of  Tintoretto  in  the 
Scuola  of  S.  Rocoo  were  painted  with  a  flat  and  uniform  tint  of  colour,  and 
thai  the  shades  had  all  disappeared,  probably  in  cleaning. 


CxlK  INTBODUCTION,  [cbaf.  vu 

He  again  mentioned  that  the  Venetian  school  used 
little  beside  earths,  and  as  few  metallic  colours  as  pos* 
sible^  and  that  the  latter  were  used  with  varnish,  except 
by  Paolo  Veronese,  who  applied  them  in  distemper. 

Speaking,  again,  of  the  practice  of  Titian,  he  ob- 
served he  lived  to  a  great  age,  and  had  time  to  im*- 
prove,  and  he  changed  his  methods  several  times ;  but 
those  pictures  best  retain  their  colour  which  he  painted 
in  the  manner  of  Gio.  Bellino ;  he  added,  also,  he  had 
seen  one  picture  by  Titian  the  colours  of  which  were 
very  brilliant,  and  this  was  painted  on  a  ground  of 
terra  rossa;  and  he  added,  ^*I  think  the  terra  rossa 
was  laid  on  in  distemper."  He  mentioned  that  this 
picture  was  on  a  ceiling. 

Signor  C.  observed  it  was  the  same  with  Giorgione 
as  with  Titian;  his  early  pictures  were  bright  and 
clear,  but  the  later  ones  were  dark.  He  said  that  he 
had  seen  some  pictures  by  the  former  as  dark  as  could 
be.  The  same  remark  applied  to  Tintoretto ;  but  he 
said  Gian  Bellino 's  were  always  transparent  and 
bright.^  Signor  C.  seemed  to  know  nothing  of  the 
manner  in  which  these  pictures  were  painted;  indeed 
he  told  me  Gian  Bellino  did  not  begin  his  pictures  in 
chiaroscuro.  I  then  showed  him  the  passage  in  Paolo 
Pino's  *  Dialogue,'*  "disegnare  le  tavole  con  tanta 
estrema  diligenza,  componendo  il  tutto  di  chiaro  et 
scuro,  come  usava  Giovan.  Bellino,  perch^  ^  fatica 
gettata,  havendosi  a  coprire  il  tutto  con  li  colori,''  &c 
Signor  C.  said  this  method  was  practised  by  the 
Roman  school;  but  the  restorers  in  the  Venetian 
territories  seem  to  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  prac- 
tice of  any  but  the  Venetian  school. 

I  called  the  attention  of  Signor  C.  to  some  passages 
in  the  Marquis  Selvatico's  work,*  treating  of  the  prac- 
tice of  oil-painting,  where  it  is  observed  that  the  coat 

i  See  Boschini,  Ricche  Minere.  *  Dialogo  di  Pittura,  fo.  16. 

'  *  Suir  Educatione  del  Fittore  storico  odierno  Italiano,'  Padora,  1842. 


CHIP.  Ti.]  PRACTICE  OF  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  cxliii 

of  glue  and  gesso  on  the  panels  was,  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  covered  with 
a  coat  of  boiled  oil.  I  asked,  had  he  observed  this  ? 
He  replied  he  had  frequently ;  but  he  always  added  the 
ground  should  be  very  absorbent  to  get  rid  of  the  oil. 

He  observed  Titian  never  used  white  lead  in  the 
grounds.  He  also  mentioned  that  Paolo  Veronese 
always  laid  in  the  abbozzo  with  very  little  colour,  so 
that  only  a  faint  impression  of  the  colours  should  be 
left ;  and  if  the  colour  was  too  deep,  that  it  was  some- 
times the  practice  to  rub  it  down  with  pumice  stone. 
On  this  abbozizo  he  laid  the  local  colours  solidly,  but  he 
seldom  repeated  his  colours,  or  employed  glazings; 
that  many  coats  of  paint  were  never  found  on  any  part 
of  his  pictures.  In  this  respect  his  manner  was  en- 
tirely opposed  to  that  of  Titian,  on  whose  pictures  they 
frequently  found  seven,  eight,  or  nine  coats  of  colour. 

Returning  again  to  the  subject  of  painting  parts  of 
the  picture  in  tempera,  Signor  C.  said  that  he  had 
found  the  blue  painted  with  varnish  only,  and  that  he 
had  been  assured  that  it  was  frequently  painted  in 
distemper,  and  that  in  this  case  there  was  no  oil  paint 
under  it,  but  that  where  the  skies  in  Paolo's  pictures  had 
turned  green,  they  had  been  found  to  be  painted  in  oil. 

Speaking  again  of  the  old  method,  and  of  the  dif- 
ferent practice  of  modern  artists  in  restoring  pictures, 
Signor  C.  observed,  "  I  think  we  have  lost  something. 
Every  artist  restores  in  his  own  way,  and  the  present 
method  of  painting  is  very  bad,  much  worse  than  it 
was  in  the  last  century."  He  added,  that  in  restoring 
he  had  used  oil  with  a  small  quantity  of  thin  mastic 
varnish,  in  which  a  little  honey  was  put,  and  that  this 
had  cracked  less  than  other  vehicles. 

Signor  C.  said  it  was  an  error  to  paint  with  the 
colours   too  dry}     That  this  was   the  case  with   the 

>  See  RequeDO,  Saggi  sul  Ristabilimento  deir  Antica  Arte  de'  Greci 

c  Ronmniy  vol.  i.  p.  163. 

m 


cxliv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  yr% 

bewtifUl  copy  by  Baroccio  of  Raphaers  Transfigu^ 
ration.  When  this  picture  ^as  lined,  the  person  en* 
trusted  with  it  neglected  to  secure  the  fac^  of  the 
picture  by  pasting  paper  over  it ;  the  consequence  was^ 
that  when  they  attempted  to  raise  the  picture  after 
lining  it^  they  found  that,  by  wetting  the  back  in  order 
to  fix  the  new  canvass,  they  had  dissolved  the  ground, 
and  that  the  picture,  which  had  become  very  dry,  was 
detached  from  it«  and  had  dropped  to  pieces,  iind  that 
it  could  never  be  put  together  again  properly. 

He  also  told  me  that  when  he  had  been  painting 
with  oil,  and  had  found  the  oil  penetrate  through  the 
gesso  ground^  he  had  laid  glue  and  gesso  on  the  back 
of  that  part  where  the  oil  had  soaked  through  to  abscNrh 
it,^  and  when  that  was  saturated,  he  had  scraped  it  ofi^ 
and  had  laid  on  fresh  gesso,  aiud  had  repeated  the 
operation  until  all  the  superfluous  oil  was  absorbed; 
but  this  was  only  in  cases  where  he  had  found  it  neces- 
sary to  repeat  the  coats  of  oil  colour.  Everything 
shows  that  the  Venetians  endeavoured  to  use  as  little 
oil  as  possible, 

Signor  C.  observed  that  another  cause  of  the  dark- 
enipg  of  pictures  has  been  the  excessive  use  of  aspbal- 
tum  and  mummy;  that  many  U3ed  ihem  as  solid 
colours  (di  corpo),  whereas  they  should  be  used  in 
glazing  only,  and  very  thin,  and  that  they  should  be 
mixed  with  varnish  only,  and  should  not  be  ground 
with  oil  or  spirit  of  turpentine.  He.  said^  also,  that 
he  believed  mastic  was  not  much  used  by  the  It^ns 
of  the  time  of  Titian,  and  that  those  who  had  analysed 
Venetian  pictures  had  never  found  wax  in  them. 

He  also  observed  that  Paolo  never  painted  the 
abbozzo  with  colours  tempered  with  water,  and  that  yolk 

-7 : — . : T- s-i-« 

^  Merim^  (de  la  Peinture  k  THuile,  p.  31)  mentioiis  having  seen  & 
picture  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  in  which  the  latter  had  employed  a  sinular 
contrivance  to  get  rid  of  the  superfluous  oil,  where  he  had  found  it  neces- 
sary to  repaint  the  head. 


CHAP.  TiJ  PRACTICE  OP  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  cxlv 

of  egg  had  not  been  found  on  his  pictures ;  that  the 
tempera  vehicle  used  by  Paolo  consisted  of  animal  glue. 
Signor  G.  showed  me  a  picture  painted  with  boiled 
oil  which  had  not  been  varnished.  I  inquired  how  the 
glossy  surface  was  produced  ?  he  replied,  ^^  by  polishing 
it  with  a  soft  cloth." 

I  saw  this  morning  Signor  E.,  an  artist  who  had 
restored  some  pictures  by  Paolo  Veronese.  He  told 
me  his  plan,  formed  irom  observation  of  Titian's 
pictures,  is  to  lay  on  the  canvass  a  thin  ground  of  gesso 
and  glue,  made  of  the  primings  of  leather ;  over  this 
he  spreads  a  coat  of  colour  mixed  with  oil  (the  colour 
is  drab,  made,  I  should  think,  of  a  little  umber,  white, 
and  a  little  black).  The  gesso  ground  absorbs  the  oil, 
which  makes  the  back  of  the  canvass  quite  yellow.  On 
this  ground  the  artist  paints  the  whole  picture  with  solid 
colours,  mixed  with  raw  linseed  oil,  without  any  glaz- 
ings. He  says  that  glazings  are  never  permanent,  and 
that  nothing  can  make  them  so;  and  as  a  proof,  he 
told  me  there  were  in  a  certain  palace  several  pictures 
by  Titian,  which  had  always  been  covered  by  glasses. 
That  he  was  present  when  the  glasses  were  removed  for 
the  first  time;  when,  to  the  surprise  of  every  one 
present,  the  glazings  were  found  to  have  evaporated 
from  the  pictures,  and  to  have  adhered  to  the  inside  of 
the  glass.  I  considered  this  incredible,  and  it  certainly 
appears  to  require  proof,  although  it  must  be  recol- 
lected that  Lionardo  da  Vinci  says,  '^11  verde  fatto 
dal  rame,  ancorche  tal  color  sia  messo  a  olio,  se  ne  va 
in  fumo,**  &c.  If  the  colour  evaporated  from  the  pic- 
ture, it  would  certainly  be  retained  by  the  glass ;  and 
this  artist  distinctly  said  that  all  the  glazings  were  fixed 
on  the  inside  of  the  glass,  exactly  above  the  painting, 
and  that  the  effect  of  the  different  colours  on  the  glass 
was  very  singular.  From  that  time,  he  added,  that  he 
had  left  off  glazing  his  pictures. 

VOL.  I.  * 


cxlvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

The  same  gentleman  informed  me  that  he  had  never 
found  any  colours  in  distemper  on  Titian's  paintings ; 
and  that  what  people  took  for  tempera  painting  on  the 
pictures  of  Paolo  Veronese  was  not  really  so,  but  was 
done  in  the  following  manner : — 

The  first  painting  was  executed  with  colomrs  mixed 
with  oil,  and  the  part  to  be  painted  on  with  metallic 
colours  (or  with  such  as  darken  with  oil)  was  left  to  dry 
until  it  was  tacky;  the  metallic  colours  were  then 
applied,  mixed  with  toater  only.  The  water  evapo- 
rated, and  the  oil  left  on  the  picture  in  the  first 
painting  was  sufficient  to  bind  the  upper  layer  of 
colours  firmly  to  the  picture. 


Of  the  Grounds  used  by  some  of  the  principal  Painters  of  Bologna. 
[A  oommnnication  fWmi  an  eminent  liner  of  pictures  in  tbat  city.] 

Panels  were  formerly  prepared  with  gesso  only, 
applied  with  the  pencil  in  the  same  manner  as  is  done 
by  gilders;  after  this,  the  panels  received  a  coat  of 
glue  or  oil  to  prevent  the  colours  from  sinking  in.  In 
this  way  Francesco  Francia  prepared  his  panelsi  and 
Samacchini,^  Sabbatini,*  and  Tibaldi '  both  their  panels 
and  canvass.  Then  came  the  CarraccL  Ludovico^ 
used  no  other  priming  than  a  thin  coat  of  white  lead 
and  ochre  mixed  with  oil,  sufficiently  thick  to  ensure  a 
smooth  surface,  and  he  employed  this  priming  as  a 
shadow  colour,  which  we  know  too  well  was  the  cause 
of  the  great  change  observable  in  his  pictures.  But 
Ludovico  Carracci  was  not  sufficiently  remunerated  for 
his  pictures  to  enable  him  to  incur  great  expenses  in 
the  priming.  Annibale,  his  cousin,  sometimes  em- 
ployed successftdly  on  canvass^  "creta,"*  mixed  with 

1  He  died  in  1577,  aged  45. 

*  Also  called  Andrea  di  Salerno,  waa  bom  about  1480,  and  died  about  1545. 
^  Called  also  Pellegrini  da  Bologna,  was  bom  in  1527,  died  1591. 
<  Bom  1555,  died  1619. 
A  Is  this  *<  creta"  the  same  as  '<  gesso  Boiognese  ?'' 


CHAP.  VI.]  PRACTICE  OF  THE  OLD  MASTERS.  cxlvii 

white  lead.  Instead  of  "creta,**  Guercino  generally 
adopted  in  his  early  pictures  a  thin  priming  of  marble 
dust  and  size,  and  his  pictures  are  thought  to  owe  much 
of  their  brilliancy  to  this  circumstance.  In  his  second 
manner,  the  priming  was  thicker.  When  lining  Guer- 
cinos  pictures,  it  is  generally  found  necessary  to 
remoye  the  ground  as  weU  as  the  canvass.  The  ground 
sometimes  appears  to  be  composed  of  hard  and  gritty 
terra  rossa,  and  which  is  thought  to  have  been  procured 
outside  the  Porta  Castiglione  at  Bologna.  Grounds 
are  now  prepared  extremely  well  at  Bologna  and  at 
Borne.  The  canvass  is  all  the  produce  of  Bologna, 
which  province  produces  hemp  of  the  finest  quality. 

The  most  durable  and  unchangeable  pictures  are 
stated  to  be  those  painted  on  gesso.  In  the  eighteenth 
century  coarse  open  canvass,  the  holes  of  which  were 
filled  up  with  strong  glue,  was  introduced;  pictures 
painted  on  these  canvasses  were  not  durable,  for  in 
time  the  colours  scaled  off. 

The  following  particulars  relative  to  the  method  of 
painting  in  oil  as  practised  by  the  Parmasan  School 
were  communicated  to  me  by  a  distinguished  painter 
of  Parma : — 

1st  That  gesso  grounds  were  used. 

2nd.  That  neither  size  nor  varnish  was  laid  over  this 
ground,  which  was  suffered  to  absorb  the  oil. 

3rd*  That  the  picture  was  begun  in  chiaroscuro. 

4th.  That  the  first  colours  were  painted  with  raw  nut 
oil 

5th.  That  in  the  glazings  and  retouchings  varnish 
was  used. 

I  was  informed  that  a  professor  of  that  city  had 
devoted  much  time  and  attention  to  the  study  of  the 
good  method  of  oil-painting,  and  that  he  knew  more 
about  it  than  any  other  person. 

The  professor  had  been  suffering  firom  illness ;  but  at 

k2 


cxlviii  INTRODUCTION.  [chip,  tl 

the  request  of  the  Gay.  Pezzana,  of  the  Ducal  Library 
at  Parma,  he  kindly  permitted  us  to  pay  him  a  short 
visit.  He  perfectly  recollected  having  sent  a  bottle  of 
varnish  to  an  English  artist,  and  he  said  that  the  reason 
he  had  not  written  to  him  was  because  he  had  lost  the 
use  of  his  hand,  and  could  not  write  legibly ;  that  he  had 
written  out  the  recipe  for  some  person,  but  that  it  proved 
useless,  for  the  varnish  could  not  be  made  from  this 
recipe  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  the  manipulation. 

I  asked,  could  he  tell  me  the  ingredients  ?  He  said  it 
consisted  of  amber  in  the  natural  state,  and  the  higher 
coloured  the  better,  dissolved  in  oil  of  spike,  and  this 
was  rendered  slower  in  drying  by  the  addition  of  oil 
(balsam)  of  copaiba. 

I  immediately  inquired  whether  he  had  found  any 
document  showing  it  was  used  by  Correggio  ? 

He  said  No ;  it  was  the  result  of  his  own  observation 
and  study. 

I  asked  whether  he  had  ever  analysed  any  of  Cor- 
re^io's  pictures  ? 

He  replied  without  hesitation.  No,  no ;  and  as  I  saw 
it  was  painful  to  him  to  talk,  I  took  my  leave. 

On  my  return  to  the  library,  I  was  told  that  the 
professor  had  analysed  parts  of  pictures  by  Raphael, 
and  had  found  amber. 

In  one  respect  my  informant  was  probably  mistaken, 
— namely,  as  to  the  artist  whose  pictures  had  been 
analysed,  since  the  professor  had  said  the  varnish  he 
had  made  was  that  of  Correggio.  It  appeared,  however, 
quite  clear  that  amber  varnish  had  been  found  on  the 
pictures  of  one  or  other  of  these  great  painters* 

§  2.  Colours  used  in  Painting. 

The  Italians  appear  generally  to  have  exercised  the 
same  care  in  the  purification  and  preparation  of  their 
pigments  as  the  Flemish,  Dutch,  and  French  artists. 
This  is  apparent  from  the  directions  preserved  in  those 


cbap.tl]  COLOUBS  used  IN  PAINTING. 


cxlix 


inanti86ripts  which  treat  in  an  especial  manner  of  the 
manufacture  of  colours,  but  it  is  seldom  alluded  to  in 
the  treatises  on  painting.  The  oinission  in  the  last- 
named  works  is  easily  accounted  for  on  the  supposition 
that  the  different  processes  of  washing,  purifying,  and 
grinding  colours  were  taught  to  the  students  during  the 
first  six  years  of  their  long  apprenticeship.  It  is  pro- 
bable also  that  many  studios  possessed  manuals  or  hand- 
bodes  like  those  published  in  the  following  pages.  The 
Byaantine  MS.  of  Mount  Athos,  the  Treatise  of  Cennini, 
and  several  MSS.  now  in  the  British  Museum,  are 
works  of  this  class.  In  the  MS.  of  Le  Begue  several 
instances  are  mentioned  of  the  loan  of  MSS.  of  this  de- 
scription by  different  painters  to  Alcherius ;  and  Cennini 
wrote  his  treatise,  as  he  himself  informs  us,  for  the 
benefit  of  all  who  studied  the  arts.  It  was,  tterefore, 
less  necessary  to  introduce  such  directions  in  works  of 
higher  pretensions. 

Nex^  perhaps,  in  importance  to  the  purification  and 
preparation  of  the  pigments*  was  their  agreement  or 
incompatibility  with  each  other.  This  subject  occupied 
the  attention  of  artists  at  a  very  early  period;  it  is 
noticed  in  the  third  book  of  EracUus,^  and  in  the  Mar- 
ciana  MS.'  The  subject  is  also  alluded  to  in  the 
Faduan  MS.  and  in  the  Treatise  ofLomazzo;"  and 
these  passages  are  useful  in  showing  what  pigments 
were  actually  mixed  together  by  the  old  painters,  and 
what  mixtures  were  to  be  avoided.  Among  the  latter 
were  verdigris  and  white  lead,  orpiment  and  white  lead, 
indigo  and  cochineal  lake,  Indian  lac  lake  and  white 
lead.  In  some  cases  the  mixtures  of  pigments  were 
not  such  as  would  be  recommended  by  modern  pro- 
fessors of  chemistry ;  but  it  is  possible  that,  as  the  old 
masters  were  so  select  in  the  choice  of  vehicles  for 
certain   colours,    they   could   regulate    the   drying    of 

1  Cap.  Ivii.  p.  262.  >  P.  609. 

>  Tntteto,  p.  193—195.    See  also  Oe  Piles*  Eldmens  de  Peinture,  p.  1 10. 


cl  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

these  pigments  in  such  a  manner  as  to  prevent  their 
exercising  any  chemical  agency  upon  each  other.  Bos- 
chini^  praises  the  colours  used  by  Gian  Bellino,  espe- 
cially the  ultramarine,  which,  he  says,  compared  with 
the  modems,  put  the  latter  to  shame  by  their  greater 
vivacity  and  beauty.  Boschini  attributes  this  not  alto- 
gether to  the  goodness  of  the  colours,  but  to  the  skill 
of  Bellino  in  every  part  of  the  art 

The  choice  of  good  pigments  was  another  point 
which  engaged  the  attention  of  artists :  a  few  hints  on 
this  subject  may  be  collected  from  the  work  of  Volpato.* 
The  same  work  also  contains  directions '  for  burning 
earths  of  different  colours. 

The  different  drying  properties  of  the  several  pig- 
ments were  also  studied  by  the  old  painters,  and  the 
desiccation  of  some  which  were  too  long  in  drying  was 
assisted  by  the  addition  of  pounded  glass,  white  cop- 
peras, or  verdigris,  with  or  without  boiled  oil,  as  the 
nature  of  the  colour  required. 

The  action  of  oil  on  the  pigments,  and  especially  on 
mineral  pigments,  was  also  well  understood  by  the  old 
masters;  and  where  oil  was  known  to  be  injurious, 
varnish,  or,  in  some  instances,  size  was  substitutai  for  it. 

WTiite  Pigments. 

Several  white  substances  used  as  pigments  and  in  the 
preparation  of  colours  and  grounds,,  are  mentioned  in 
the  following  treatises.  The  white  pigment  universally 
employed  for  oil  painting  is  white  lead,  which  is  men- 
tioned in  the  MSS.  under  its  various  synonymes  of 
albus,  blacha,  bracha,  blanchet,  biacca,  and  ceruse.  It 
was  called  albayalde  by  the  Spaniards. 

White  lead  is  considered  a  good  dryer,  and  is  even 
used  to  render  oil  more  drying ;  it  is,  therefore,  remark- 
able that  it  should  be  classed  in    the   Brussels  MS.^ 

1  Ricche  Minere.         «  P.  746.         »  P.  745,  747.         *  P.  SIS, 


CH1P.VI.J  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  cli 

among  the  colours  which  do  not  dry  well.  De  Piles, 
however,  states  ^  that  it  dries  with  difficulty,  especially 
in  winter,  if  ground  with  new  oil,  or  if  it  has  been 
recently  ground.  The  *  Traits  de  Mignature '  of  Chris- 
tophe  Bdlard '  contains  *^  a  great  secret  to  make  white 
lead  dry  without  changing."  This  consists  in  temper* 
ing  it  with  oil  of  turpentine. 

The  Italians,  and  especially  the  Venetians,  were  ex- 
tremely careful  in  the  preparation  of  their  white  lead,* 
which  was  generally  purified  by  washing.  Fra  Fortu- 
nato  of  Bovigo,  in  his  *  Baccolta  di  Secreti,'  gives  the 
foUowmg  recipe  "  for  rendering  white  lead  extraordi- 
narily white.  Take  white  lead  in  scales,  select  the 
finest  quality,  grind  it  well  on  marble  with  vinegar  and 
it  will  become  black,  then  take  an  earthen  vessel  fiiU  of 
water  and  wash  your  white  well,  and  let  it  settle  to  the 
bottom,  and  pour  off  the  water.  Grind  it  again  with 
vinegar  and  again  wash  it,  and  when  you  have  repeated 
the  operation  three  or  four  times,  you  will  have  white 
lead  which  will  be  as  excellent  for  miniature  painting 
as  for  painting  in  oil."  ^ 

There  is  scarcely  a  doubt  that  the  pigment  called 
**  lime "  was  the  preparation  of  lime  mentioned  by 
Cennini  *  and  Imperato,*  under  the  name  of  Bianco 
San  Giovanni.  The  lime  was  prepared  by  macerating  it 
in  water  until  it  had  lost  all  causticity.     According  to 

Imperato,  pulverized  white  qiarble  was  added  to  the 

-— —  , 

1  El^mens  de  Peinture,  p.  140. 

s  Lyon,  1693, 6th  Ed.,  p.  216.     The  first  edition  was  published  in  1682. 

*  *'  Lindo  alTayalde  de  Venecia*' — **  el  meyor  alvayalde  que  se  hallare, 
i  lo  es  sobre  todos  el  de  Venecia."    Pacheco,  Tratado,  pp.  354,  387. 

*  Per  rendere  la  biacca  pi{i  bianca  straordinariamente.  Prendete  biacca 
di  piombo  in  scaglie,  elegete  la  piii  bella,  e  macinatela  bene  sul  marmo  con 
aceto,  e  dWentark  nera,  allora  prendete  un  vaso  di  terra  plena  d'  acqua,  e 
lavata  il  Tostro  bianco  bene,  poi  lasciatelo  bene  dar  in  fondo,  e  verrate 
1*  aoqaa  per  inclinazione.  Tomatela  a  macinare  con  aceto  et  a  lavare ;  c 
latta  qnetta  operatione  med^  3  o  4  volte,  clic  havera  una  biacca  chc  sarii 
perfettam^  bella  tanto  per  miniare,  quanto  per  dipingere  a  olio. 

*  Cap.  58.  .   *  Istoria  Naturale,  lib.  iv.  cap.  13. 


wwm 


Clii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

lime.     This  pigment  was  used  in  fresco  painting.     It  is 
known  to  later  authors  by  the  name  of  biancho  secco} 

White  chalk,  marble  dustj  gesso,  the  bone  of  cuttle 
jish,  alumenj  and  travertine^  were  occasionally  used  as 
white  pigments.  They  were  also  frequently  mixed  with 
transparent  vegetable  colours  to  give  them  body. 

Calcined  harfs-hom  or  bones  were  used  occasionally 
as  a  white  pigment* 

Egg-shell  white  was  employed  in  fresco  painting. 
With  reference  to  this  pigment,  Lomazzo '  says^  that 
^^  there  is  another  thing  which,  in  fresco  painting,  causes 
the  colours  to  remain  unchanged  as  when  first  appUed 
on  the  damp  lime ;  and  this,  which  is  one  of  the  rare 
inventions  belonging  to  the  technical  part  of  the  art» 
consists  of  the  shells  of  eggs  finely  ground,  and  mi^ed 
in  greater  or  less  proportion  with  all  the  colours." 

Terra  di  cava,  terra  da  boccaliy  or  terretta,  a  white 
earth  used  by  potters.  It  is  mentioned  by  Volpato  * 
and  Baldinucci  ^  to  have  been  employed  in  the  priming 
for  oil  paintings. 

The  pigment  called  alumen  by  Eraclius  *  appears  to 
have  been  allume  scagliuola,  a  kind  of  stone  resembling 
talc,  of  which,  when  calcined,  is  made  the  ^^  gesso  da 
oro,"  or  gesso  of  the  gilders,  which  is  also  used  for  the 
grounds  of  pictures.  According  to  Eraclius  "^  it  was 
prepared  for  painting  by  grinding  with  gum  and  water, 
and  was  distempered  when  required  with  white  of  egg. 

Travertine  is  a  calcareous  stone,  sometimes  light  and 
porous,  sometimes  dense  and  heavy.  It  is  of  various 
colours,  white,  grey,  yellowish,  reddish  yellow,  and 
variegated.  It  is  found  at  Pisa  and  Tivoli.  The  tra* 
vertine  from  Tivoli  is  white.  It  was  used  by  painters 
to  give  a  body  to  lake  made  from  verzino. 

1  Lomazzo,  Trattato,  pp.  192,  194. 

«  Sloane  MS.,  No.  1754 ;  Strasburg  MS.,  cited  by  Mr.  Eastlake,  'Ma- 
terials.' p.  133.  8  Trattato,  p.  191. 

4  P.  780.  6  Voc.  Dis.  «,P.  245,  ^  p,  282. 


.  VI.]  OOLOUBS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clHi 

White  marble  is  mentioned  as  a  pigment  for  tempera 
painting  by  Palomino.^ 

"  A  most  beautiful  white  pigment,**  probably  for  mi- 
niature painting,  is  described  in  the  Faduan  MS. '  It 
is  composed  of  powdered  Venetian  glass  (cristallo)  and 
sulphur,  and  is  precisely  similar  to  the  opaque  white 
glass  used  for  painting  pottery,  for  which  recipes  are 
given  in  the  second  and  third  books  of  Eraclius.' 

Yellow  Pigments. 

Arzica. — Two  pigments  are  known  by  this  name  in 
medieval  MSS. 

The  first  kind  of  arzica  is  mentioned  by  Cennini 
(cap.  50),  who  says  that  it  was  much  used  at  Florence 
lor  miniature  painting.  With  regard  to  the  nature  of 
the  pigment,  he  observes  merely  that  it  is  an  artificial 
colour.  The  Bolognese  MS.,  written  about  the  time  of 
Cennini,  or  soon  after,  proves*  that  it  was  a  yellow  lake 
made  from  the  herb  "  gualda/'  which  is  the  Spanish 
and  Froven9al  name  for  the  Reseda  luteola.  The  plant 
has  been  used  as  a  yellow  dye  not  only  in  England  but 
in  all  Europe,  from  a  very  early  period.  This  yellow 
lake  was  known  to  the  Spanish  painters  under  the  name 
of  ancorca  ^  or  encorca,  and  when  used  for  the  kind  of 
painting  called  ^'  estofado,**  was  mixed  with  lemon  juice 
and  weak  size. 

The  second  kind  of  arzica  is  stated  to  be  a  yellow 
earth  for  painting,  of  which  the  moulds  for  casting  brass 
are  formed.*  A  yellow  loam  is  still  used  for  this  pur- 
pose in  the  foundries  at  Brighton.  It  is  brought  by 
sea  firom  Woolwich,  and  when  washed  and  dried  it 
yields  an  ochreous  pigment  of  a  pale  yellow  colour. 

1  Museo  Pictorico,  vol.  ii.  p.  lid,  152. 

«  P.  704.  »  P.  201,  206.  *  P.  483. 

*  lodice  de  los  Tenniuos  Primativos  de  la  Pintuniy  appended  to  Palo- 
mino's Mufleo  Pictorico. 

•  Table  of  Synooymes,  p.  19,  23. 


cliv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

When  burnt  it  changes  to  an  orange  colour,  which  is 
likely  to  prove  valuable  in  painting. 

ArzicoUy  or  Arsicon. — In  the  Table  of  Synonymes 
arzicon  is  considered  synonymous  with  arziccu  This  is 
not  the  case.  Le  Begue  is,  however,  correct  in  saying 
that  it  is  the  same  as  orpiment.  It  is  undoubtedQy  a 
contraction  or  corruption  of  arsenicony  which  Vitruvius 
(lib.  vii.  cap.  vii.)  says  was  the  Greek  name  for  orpi- 
ment. The  term  arzicon  must  not  be  confounded  with 
azarcon,  the  Spanish  name  for  red  lead. 

Auripigmentum  or  Orpiment — ^There  was  a  native 
as  weU^  an  artificid  p^ent  known  by  this  name. 
The  former  is  found  in  masses  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Naples,  and  in  other  volcanic  countries.  It  has  the 
great  advantage  over  the  artificial  pigment  of  being  less 
poisonous.  The  artificial  pigment  only  seems  to  have 
been  known  to  Gennini. '  Being  difficult  to  grind, 
powdered  glass  was  mixed  with  it,  as  we  are  expressly 
told,  for  this  purpose.*  And  Facheco  directs '  that  orpi- 
ment should  be  mixed  i^^ith  linseed  oil,  made  drying  by 
boiling  it  with  red  lead  or  copperas  in  powder.*  For 
miniature  painting  it  was  tempered  with  gum-water  and 
white  of  egg.  Its  brilliant  yellow  colour  renders  it  a 
desirable  pigment  for  draperies  in  oil  painting,  but  it  is 
not  durable  when  mixed  with  oil,  and  dries  very  slowly. 
The  author  of  the  third  book  of  Eraclius  says,  *  "  If 
you  mix  oil  with  it,  it  will  never  dry."  Lebrun  re- 
marks,* that  "  fat  oil  should  be  added  to  orpiment  to 
make  it  dry,  otherwise  it  will  never  dry/'  Lomazzo 
also  mentions ''  that  it  was  mixed  with  pulverized  glass, 
but  he  does  not  state  for  what  purpose  the  latter  was 
added.  De  Mayeme,  however,  states  *  that  Vandyck 
was  accustomed  to  mix  powdered  glass  with  orpiment 

»  Cap.  47.  «  P.  603.  »  Tratado,  p.  388. 

^  He  was  evidentiy  unacquainted  with  the  fact  that  lead  decomposes 
orpiment  »  P.  234.  «  P.  818.  »  Trattato,  p.  192. 

8  Sec  Mr.  Eastlako's  *  MaterialB,'  &c.,  p.  531. 


cBAP.Yi.]  COLOUBS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clV 

to  make  it  dry.  Pacheco '  recommends  it  for  the  same 
purpose ;  but  there  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  propriety  of 
this  mixture. 

In  the  third  book  of  Eraclius  it  is  directed'  that 
orpiment  should  be  crushed  in  a  leather  bag,  and  then 
ground  upon  marble  with  a  little  calcined  bone ;  in  this 
respect  the  directions  resemble  those  given  in  the  Strass- 
borg'  and  also  in  the  Sloane  MSS^  No.  1754,  where 
calcined  hartshorn  is  said  to  be  the  only  substance 
which  can  be  safely  mixed  with  orpiment  to  lighten  it. 

Orpiment  is  mentioned  by  Biondo  ^  among  the  pig- 
ments used  by  the  Venetians;  and  Boschini  states^  that 
it  was  employed  by  Fordenone  and  by  Paolo  Veronese. 
A  professor  of  painting  at  Venice  informed  me  that  he 
had  found  it,  by  analysis,  on  the  pictures  of  Bonifazio 
only.  It  is  generally  asserted,  and  there  appears  every 
reason  to  think  justly,  that  orpiment  should  not  be 
mixed  with  any  other  colour,  and  especially  with  white 
lead,  the  bad  effects  of  which  were  well  known  to  the 
Italians.*  But  there  is  evidence  that  the  Italians  were 
b  the  habit  of  mixing  it  with  ultramarine  or  with 
indigo  to  make  a  brilliant  green.^  The  Marciana  MS." 
recommends  that  white  lead  should  be  laid  under  orpi- 
ment, because  it  has  no  body. 

This  pigment  was  called  jalde,  or  oropimente,  by  the 
Spaniards.  Pacheco  directs,*  that  for  the  second  or 
half  tints  of  draperies  the  orpiment  should  be  burnt  in 
an  iron  ^ovel  over  the  fire.  Palomino,  after  describing 
the  method  of  painting  draperies  with  orpiment,  re- 
marks, ^^  that  he  did  not  approve  of  the  colour,  which 
dried  very  badly  and  required  many  precautions  in 
using  it,  and  that  it  was,  moreover,  liable  to  turn  black ; 

1  Tntado,  p.  88S.  <  P.  289.  >  Materials,  &c.,  p.  133,  438. 

«  Delia  Fittura,  cap.  24,  f.  20.  »  Ricche  Minere. 

*  See  p.  609,  and  Armenini,  lib.  ii.  cap.  8. 

^  Cennim,  cap.  53,  66;  Borgfaini,  Riposo,  p.  170;  Marciana  MS., 
p.  611.  »  P.  611.  »  Tratado,  p.  388.  io:Vol.  ii.  p.  262. 


dvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  ti. 

this,  he  adds,  may  be  prevented  by  varnishing  it  as 
soon  as  it  is  dry. 

CriaUolino^  GiaUorinOj  or  GuddolinOj  strictly  signifies 
a  pale  yellow.     It  is  a  diminutive  of  giaUo. 

There  appears  to  be  so  much  confusion  in  the  ac- 
counts of  this  colour  by  different  writers,  that  it  will  be 
necessary  to  treat  of  it  at  some  length. 

According  to  Borghini  *  and  Baldinucci '  there  were 
two  kinds  of  Giallolino :  the  first,  called  ^  Giallolino 
fino,**  which  was  brought  from  Flanders,  was  used  in 
painting  in  oil,  and  contained  lead  ;  the  other,  which  was 
brought  from  Venice,  was  composed  of  *^  Giallo  di 
vetro  **  and  "  Giallolino  fino  *'  above  mentioned.  Lo- 
mazzo'  speaks  of  three  kinds  of  Giallolino,  which,  he 
says,  are  artificial  pigments,  but  the  terms  in  which  he 
mentions  them  are  not  sufficiently  precise  to  determine 
exactly  their  names  or  composition. 

Sig.  Branchi  *  found  on  analysis  that  the  giallolino 
of  the  old  pictures  at  Pistoia,  mentioned  in  the  docu- 
ments published  by  Giampi,  consisted  of  the  yellow 
oxide  of  lead,  which,  he  said,  was  known  by  this  name 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  In  support  of  this  he  quotes 
Cesalpino,  who  mentions  a  pigment  then  prepared  firom 
burnt  or  calcined  lead,  which  was  commonly  called  giallo- 
lino— "  pigmentum  pictoribus  .  .  .  quod  hodie  arte 
paratur  ex  plumbo  usto,  vulgoque  giallolinum  vocant"* 
And  again,  Cesalpino '  says,  '^  the  ashes  (calx)  of  burnt 
lead  assume  a  yellow  colour,  on  account  of  the  black 
soot  mixed  with  the  white ;  tin,  however,  gives  a  white 
calx.''  Painters  use  the  former  for  lights  and  for  repre- 
senting flame,   calling  it  giallolino.     Potters  use  the 


1  Ripoflo,  p.  166.  s  Yoa  Dis. 

s  Trettato,  p.  192.  *  Letteim  di  Branchi,  &c.,  p.  13. 

ft  De  Metallicis,  lib.  ii.  cap.  62.  •  Lib.  iii.  cap.  rii. 

7  Thomson  (Annals,  &c.,  p.  166)  says,  that  the  grey  oxide  of  tin,  when 
brought  to  a  full  red  heat,  takes  fire,  and  acquiring  an  excess  of  ox/gen, 
passes  to  a  yellow  colour. 


jCHiP.  TiJ  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clvii 

latter  to  give  a  white  colour  to  their  vessels.^  Professor 
£ranchi  adds,  that  this  is  confirmed  hy  Ferrante  Impe- 
rato/  a  Neapolitan  writer  of  the  same  century.  This 
author  says,  ^*  Giallolino,  which  is  made  of  burnt  ceruse 
(the  first  degree  of  alteration  by  fire),  imitates  the  colour 
of  the  yellow  broom." 

Dr.  Fabroni/  of  Arezzo,  analysed  the  colours  of  a 
miniature  of  the  fourteenth  or  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  he  ascertained  that  the  yellow  pigment 
consisted  of  **  massicot,''  which,  he  says,  is  the  first 
gradation  of  the  ^^cerussa  usta  "  of  the  ancients. 

In  fiirther  confirmation  of  the  above  statements  it 
may  be  observed,  that  neither  Cennini,  Borghini, 
LioDardo  da  Vinci,  Lomazzo,  Baldinucci,  nor  the 
Paduan  MS^  mention  *'  massicot,"  while  they  all  speak 
of  giallolino.'  It  may  also  be  observed,  that  Lebrun, 
the  author  of  the  Brussels  MS.,  mentions  ^  no  yellows 
but  ochre  and  massicot ;  the  latter,  he  says,  serves  for 
the  fine  or  bright  yellows.  Van  Mander,  Hoogstraten, 
De  Bie,  and  Beurs,^  in  enumerating  the  yellow  pigments 
used  by  the  Flemings,  mention  ochre,  massicot,  and  yel- 
low lake,  to  which  all  but  De  Bie  add  orpiment  Bulen- 
gerus '  also  names  massicot,  which  he  calls  ^*  fin  jaune." 

As  a  further  proof  of  the  identity  of  these  pigments, 
it  may  be  observed,  that  Haydocke,  the  translator  of 
Lomazzo's  Treatise  on  Painting,  published  in  1598, 
translates  giaUolino  by  the  word  masskot^   The  last  au- 


^  Istoria  Naturale,  lib.  i?.  cap.  42. 

'  Ricerche  Chimiche  Bopra  le  Miniature  di  un  Manttscritto,  Memoria 
dd  Dr.  A.  Fabroni  di  Arezzo,  letta  nelle  Adunanze  Accademiche  de'  18 
Geim.  e  17  Febb.  1811. 

*  See  Cennini,  Trattato,  cap.  46.  Borghini,  Ripoeo,  p.  166.  Lionardo 
da  Viad,  Tiattato,  cap.  352,  353.  Lomazzo,  Trattato,  p.  191,  192,  193, 
&c.    Baldinucci,  Voc.  Dia. 

«  Cap.  1,  No.  6 ;  cap.  7,  No.  6. 

>  See  Mr.  Eastlake'a  <  Materials,'  &c.,  p.  438,  440. 

*  De  Pictura,  &c.,  lib.  ii;  cap.  iii, 

^  A  Tracte,  contuning  the  Artes  of  curious  Fainting,  Carving,  and  Build- 


clviii  INTRODUCTION.  [chat.  rL 

thority  is  particularly  valuable  on  account  of  the  trans- 
lation having  been  made  so  soon  after  the  publication 
ofthe  original  work. 

Lomazzo  mentions  ^  ^'  Giallolino  di  fomace  di  Fian- 
dra  e  di  Alamagna.**  From  this  it  would  appear  that 
two  kinds  of  Giallolino  were  brought  irom  the  north 
into  Italy.  These  were  probably  the  two  kinds  of 
massicot  mentioned  by  F^Iibien,  who  states '  they  were 
made  of  calcined  lead,  ^*  Le  massicot  jaune  et  le  massi- 
cot blanc,"  or  as  they  are  called  in  Jombert's  edition 
of  the  £16mens  de  Peinture,  ^'  le  massicot  dor£  et  le 
massicot  pale.*"  Haydocke  translates  the  above-men- 
tioned passage  thus,  ^^  Yeallowe  of  the  Flaunders  for- 
nace,  and  of  Almany,  commonly  called  ma^icot  and 
generaU.*' 

There  is  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  the  ^^  Giallolino 
Fino  "  and  "  Giallolino  di  Fornace  di  Fiandra "  was 
massicot,  or  the  yellow  oxide  of  lead,  the  ^'  Fin  jaune " 
of  the  French. 

The  yellow  pigment  prepared  from  lead  is  described 
by  Theophilus  (cap.  i.),  who,  however,  does  not  give 
it  a  name.  The  same  pigment  is  mentioned  in  the 
MS.  of  Le  Begue. 

We  now  come  to  the  second  kind  of  factitious  giallo- 
lino which  Baldinucci '  states  was  brought  from  Venice, 
and  was  composed  of  the  giallolino  di  Fiandra  and 
giallo  di  vetro.  Borghini  says^  nearly  the  same.  In 
the  Bolognese  MS.  No.  272,  is  a  recipe  for  "  Vetrio 
giallo  per  patrenostro  o  ambre,"  the  ingredients  of 
which  are  lead  1  lb.  and  tin  2  lbs.,  melted  and  calcined. 
The  recipe  which  follows  this,  No.  273,  is  entitied  *'  A 
fare  zallolino  ^  per  dipengiare^"  and  the  directions  are  to 

ing,  written  first  in  Italian  by  Jo.  Paul  Lomatius,  painter,  of  Milan,  and 
Englished  by  R.  H.  (Haydocke),  student  in  physick,  1698,  p.  99. 

I  Trattato,  p.  191.  *  Principes,  &c.,  p.  299. 

»  Voc.  Dis.  <  Riposo,  p.  166. 

^  It  will  not  escape  observation  that  the  gi  in  this  word  are  changed  into 
Zf  as  was  usual  among  the  Venetians. 


CRAP.  VL]  COLOUBS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  dix 

take  2  lbs.  of  the  above-mentioned  glass,  2h  lbs.  of 
minium,  and  ^  lb.  of  sand  from  the  Val  d'Arno :  the 
ingredients  are  to  be  pulverized  finely,  and  tiieu  refined 
in  the  fiimace.  I  can  scarcely  doubt  that  this  is  the 
second  kind  of  giallolino  mentioned  by  Baldinucci  and 
BorghinL  It  may  also  be  the  third  variety  mentioned 
by  LomazKo.^ 

It  must  be  observed  that  Marcucci  does  not  men- 
tion giallolino  among  the  modern  Italian  pigments; 
he  describes*  three  yellow  pigments,  namely,  giaUo  di 
Napoli  (Naples  yellow),  which  he  says  is  composed  of 
the  yellow  oxide  of  lead  and  the  oxide  of  antimony, 
massicot,  or  the  yellow  oxide  of  lead,  andgiaUo  minerale^ 
which  was  composed  of  muriate  of  lead. 

The  earliest  notice  I  have  met  with  in  Italian  writers 
of  a  pigment  called  Naples  yellow,  is  in  the  work  of 
Poszo  the  Jesuit'  The  name  he  applies  to  the  pig- 
ment is  ^^  Luteolum  Bomse  dicitur  Luteolum  Napoli- 
tanum,"  and  he  enumerates  it  among  the  pigments  to 
be  used  in  fresco.  He  also  gives  a  list  of  colours 
improper  for  this  kind  of  painting,  among  which  we 
find  cerussa,  minium,  and  luteolum  Belgicum,  which 
can  be  no  other  than  giallolino  di  Fiandra.  The  con- 
clusion then  is  unavoidable  that  the  luteolum  Napoli- 
tanum  was  not  the  yellow  oxide  of  lead.  In  the  French 
translation  of  Pozzo's  Treatise  on  Fresco-painting  ^  the 
term  luteolum  Napolitanum  is  very  properly  translated 
Jaune  de  Naples,  and  luteolum  Belgicum  by  Jaune 
de  Flandres.  In  other  parts  of  Jombert's  edition  of  the 
'Elimens  de  Feinture,'^  two  kinds  of  massicot,  the 
yellow  or  golden  and  the  pale  or  white,  are  mentioned ; 
but  they  are  not  identified  with  jaune  de  Naples,  which 

1  Trattato,  p.  192.  >  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  66. 

'  The  Treatise  on  Fresco  Painting,  appended  to  his  work  on  Perspective, 
pBbtished  at  Rome,  1693—1702. 
«  See  Jombert's  ed.  of  the  El^mens  de  Peintiuw,  by  De  Piles,  Phris,  1766. 
^  El^mens  de  Peinture,  pp.  262,  286,  ace. 


clx     ,  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.vi. 

is  mentioned  as  a  distinct  colour.  The  Italian  trans- 
lator of  Pozzo*s  treatise  ^  renders  luteolum  Napolitanum 
by  giallolino  di  fornace,  which  he  says  is  called  giallo' 
lino  di  Napoli,  and  luteolum  Belgicum  by  giallolino  di 
Francia.  This  writer  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
aware  that  giallolino  di  fomace  and  gialloUno  di 
Fiandra  were  synonymous.  Giallolino  di  Francia  ap- 
pears to  be  a  mistake  for  giallolino  di  Fiandra. 

Ffelibien,*  Pomet,*  Pozzo/  and  the  author  of  the 
article  "Fresque"  in  the  Encyclopedic  describe  the 
pigment  jaune  de  Naples  as  a  natural  production  found 
near  mines  of  sulphur,  which  is*  used  in  fresco-painting, 
although  it  is  not  so  good  as  the  colour  formed  of 
ochre  and  white.  M.  d'Arclais  de  Montamy,  in  his 
Treatise  on  the  Colours  for  Enamel  Painting,  describes 
it  as  a  stone  of  a  pale  or  deep  yellow  colour,  which  ap- 
pears to  be  composed  of  a  species  of  yellow  sand,  loosely 
combined.  He  believes  it  to  be  the  production  of  a 
volcano.  He  adds  that  Naples  yellow  may  be  consi- 
dered as  saffiron  of  Mars,  first  produced  by  a  volcano, 
and  that  then  the  colour  was  brought  to  perfection  by 
remaining  in  the  earth,  or  as  a  ferruginous  substance, 
the  vitrification  of  which  was  afterwards  decomposed.' 
Cennini*8  description  •  of  this  pigment  is  as  follows  :— 
*'  There  is  a  yellow  colour  called  giallolino,  which  is 
artificial  and  very  compact.  It  is  as  heavy  as  a  stone, 
and  difficult  to  break.  This  colour  is  used  in  iresco, 
and  lasts  for  ever  (that  is  on  walls  and  on  tempera 
pictures).  It  must  be  ground  like  the  preceding  with 
water.     It  is  difficult  to  grind;  and  before  grinding, 

1  At  the  end  of  the  Abecedario  Pittorico  (Naples,  17SS). 

>  De  I'Architecture,  &c.,  1697,  p.  292. 

*  Histoire  G^^rale  des  Drogues. 

4  See  the  French  translation  of  this  Treatise  in  Jombert's  edition  of  the 
El^mens  de  Peintore,  by  De  Piles,  p.  191. 

&  Treatise  on  Painting  and  the  Composition  of  Colours,  tracslated  from 
the  French  of  M.  Constant  de  Massoul.    London,  1797.     P.  187. 

0  Trattato,  cap.  xl?i. 


"jr- 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxi 

as  it  is  very  difficult  to  pulverize,  it  should  be  broken 
in  a  bronze  mortar,  in  the  same  way  as  the  lapis  ania- 
tito.  When  employed  in  painting,  it  is  a  very  beautiful 
yellow ;  and  with  this  colour  and  other  mixtures  which 
I  will  describe  to  you,  you  may  paint  beautiful  foliage 
and  herbage.  And  I  have  been  informed  that  this 
colour  is  a  real  stone,  produced  in  volcanoes ;  and  it  is 
for  this  reason  that  I  said  it  is  formed  artificially,  but 
not  in  the  chemical  laboratory/* 

From  this  account  it  is  evident  that  Cennini  is  de- 
scribing a  native  mineral  which  he  considers  to  be  pro- 
duced by  volcanic  agency — "Pero  ti  dico  sia  color 
artificiato,  ma  non  di  archimia."  The  accordance  of 
this  description  with  that  of  the  jaune  de  Naples  just 
mentioned  is  apparent  It  is  therefore  certain  that 
there  was  a  native  yellow  pigment  found  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  volcanoes,  the  nature  of  which  was  not 
well  understood,  which  was  known  by  the  name  of 
giallolino  or  giallolino  di  Napoli  and  jaune  de  Naples. 
This  is  the  opinion  also  of  Branchi  and  Watin.^  In 
this  case  therefore  giallolino  and  giallolino  di  Napoli 
(Naples  yellow)  were  really  synonymous.  There  is 
also  an  artificial  pigment  called  Naples  yellow  or  jaune 
de  Naples,  which,  by  some  authors,  has  been  considered 
to  consist  of  an  earth  coloured  with  weld  (gaude,  Reseda 
luteola)  and  by  others  to  be  composed  of  the  oxides  of 
lead  and  antimony  with  other  ingredients.  The  last  is 
the  general  opinion,  and  there  appears  to  be  no  doubt 
the  modern  pigment  of  this  name  is  composed  of  these 
oxides.*  The  vegetable  pigment  above  mentioned  is 
the  arzica  of  Cennini,  the  Le  Begue,  the  Bolognese 
MS.,  and  Borghini,  and  the  ancorca  of  Palomino.' 

1  Lettendi  Branchi,  p.  12. 

'See  Merim^,  de  la  Peintnre  k  THoile,  p.  110;  Marcucci,  Saggio 
Aoalitico  de'  Colori,  p.  66;  Lettera  di  Branchi,  p.  12;  Bachhofiher, 
Chemittry  as  applied  to  the  Arts,  &c, 

'  Indice  de  los  Tcrminos  Primativos  de  la  Pintura — appended  to  Palo- 
■nno*s  Museo  Pictorico. 

VOL.  I.  / 


clxii  INTRODUCTION,  [chap,  ti, 

I  consider  it  therefore  established  that  there  were 
three  kinds  of  giallolino  employed  by  the  old  Italian 
Masters,  namely: — 

1.  A  native  mineral  yellow  pigment  known  by  the 
names  of  giallolino,  giallolino  di  Napoli,  jaune  de 
Naples,  luteolum  Napolitanum. 

2.  An  artificial  pigment  which  was  composed  of  the 
yellow  protoxide  of  lead,  and  which  was  called  giallolino, 
giallolino  fino,  giallolino  di  fornace  di  Fiandra,  giallo- 
lino di  fornace,  giallolino  di  Fiandra,  luteolum  Belgi- 
cum,  genuli  (the  last  is  a  Spanish  term)  and  massicot, 
of  which  there  were  two  varieties ;  namely,  the  golden 
or  yellow  and  the  white  or  pale  massicot 

3.  An  artificial  pigment  made  at  Venice  composed 
of  giallolino  fino  and  a  certain  kind  of  "  giallo  di  vetro,** 
or  vitreous  yellow,  for  which  a  recipe  is  given  in  the  Bo- 
lognese  MS.  No.  273,  in  the  Venetian  dialect,  and  which 
appears  to  have  been  the  hornaza  of  the  Spaniards. 

I  consider  it  also  established  that  there  are  two 
kinds  of  Naples  yellow,  namely : — 

1.  A  native  mineral  pigment  found  in  the  neigh* 
bourhood  of  volcanoes,  the  nature  of  which  is  not  accu-> 
rately  known,  and  which  was  called  giallolino,  giallolino 
di  Napoli,  and  jaune  de  Naples,  and  which  is  synony- 
mous with  the  first  kind  of  giallolino  above  mentioned. 

2.  An  artificial  pigment  now  in  use  composed  of  the 
oxides  of  lead  and  antimony,  called  also  giallo  di  Napoli, 
jaune  de  Naples,  and  Naples  yellow,  which  was  not 
known  to  the  old  Italian  artists. 

From  the  above  statements  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  determine  which  of  the  three  pig- 
ments called  ^^  giallolino  "  is  alluded  to  when  the  term 
occurs  alone  in  writers  on  art  It  is  certain,  however, 
that  one  or  other  of  these  pigments  was  much  used  by 
the  Italian  masters.  Giallolino  was  recommended  by 
Lionardo  da  Vinci  *  to  be  mixed  with  white  lead  and 

1  TrattatOy  cap.  353. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxiil 

lake  for  flesh  tints.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  it  was 
also  used  by  Raphael,  since  it  is  mentioned  in  an  ac- 
count of  payments  for  colours  found  on  the  back  of  a 
drawing  by  the  great  painter  preserved  in  the  Academy 
at  Venice,  and  supposed  to  be  in  his  hand-writing. 

It  was  seldom  found  among  the  colours  of  Venetian 
pictures  which  have  been  analysed.  It  is  stated  on  the 
Lthority  ofBoschini'  (who  mentions  that  the  pigment 
was  not  generally  approved  by  the  Venetians)  to  have 
been  used  by  Giacomo  Bassano  and  Paolo  Veronese, 
and  it  is  also  enumerated  among  the  pigments  named 
by  Biondo.* 

Massicot  is  however  frequently  disapproved  as  a  pig- 
ment, especially  when  mixed  with  white.'  We  have 
the  evidence  of  Cennini  that  the  native  pigment  called 
^allolino  was  a  durable  colour.  Facheco  remarks  that 
he  has  employed  genulij  which  has  surpassed  in  bril- 
liancy and  beauty  the  best  orpiment,  excelling  it  in 
durability ;  he  adds  that  it  is  preserved  in  water  like 
white,  and  is  very  drying. 

Giallo  in  Vetro^  or  GiaUo  di  Vetro. — Borghini  states* 
that  this  pigment,  which  is  used  in  fresco,  is  made 
in  the  glass  furnaces,  and  he  recommends  that  it  should 
be  purchased  ready  made.  It  is  probable,  as  has  been 
before  observed,  that  this  pigment  was  of  the  same 
nature  as  the  vetrio  giallo  mentioned  in  the  Bolognese 
MS.  No.  272  to  have  been  composed  of  tin  and  lead 
calcined. 

The  ochres^  so  remarkable  for  their  durability  and 
variety,  will  always  be  among  the  most  valuable  yellow 
pigments.  Many  varieties  are  enumerated  by  writers 
on  art,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  arzica,  ochre 
de  ru,  mottle  de  sil,  &c.     The  best  kinds  are  sold  in 

Italy  in  the  lump,  and  Volpato  recommends '  that  such 

■  ■        ■      1   — -  II    »» ■  I    .1.1    I 

I  Ricche  Minere.  <  Delia  Pittura. 

*  See  Mr.  Eastlake's  <  Materials,'  p.  440.  «  Riposo,  p.  166. 

6  P.  746. 

12 


clxiv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

should  be  preferred  to  those  which  are  sold  in  powder, 
because  the  first  are  in  the  natural  state  and  no  other 
material  is  mixed  with  them ;  "  for,"  he  continues, 
"  the  vendors  are  accustomed  to  falsify  everything." 

During  the  middle  ages,  an  imitation  of  the  Attic 
ochre  of  Pliny  was  in  use.  This  pigment,  to  which 
the  name  of  "  Sillacetus  "  was  given,  was  a  preparation 
of  white  chalk  or  gesso,  saturated  with  the  colour  ex- 
tracted from  the  wall-flower  *  (Viola  lutea). 

Vegetable  yellow  pigments  were  of  two  kinds — those 
which  were  precipitated  on  a  white  earth,  such  as  the 
different  kinds  of  yellow  lake,  and  those  which  were 
used  as  transparent  colours,  without  any  other  prepa- 
ration than  that  of  expressing  and  inspissating  the  juice 
of  certain  plants.  Of  the  latter  kind  were  saffron^  the 
zafferano  of  Cennini,  and  aloes ;  the  latter  was  chiefly 
used  for  colouring  varnishes,  or  for  heightening  the 
colour  of  verdigris  in  the  manner  recommended  by 
Lionardo  da  Vinci.* 

GiaUo  santo  was  a  kind  of  yellow  lake,  which  was 
made  from  various  plants.  It  was  sometimes  prepared 
from  the  berries  of  the  buckthorn '  (spincervino),  some- 
times from  the  flowers  of  the  yellow  goat's-beard  (barba 
di  becco),  sometimes  from  the  flowers  of  the  yellow 
broom,  sometimes  from  weld  or  dyer's  weed:  the 
latter  is  the  arzica  of  Cennini  and  the  Bolognese  MS. 
The  sillacetus  of  the  Table  of  Synonymes  was  a  yellow 
lake. 

The  French  call  pigments  of  this  description  "  stil  de 
grairij'*  and  include  under  them  not  only  those  pigments 
which  are  of  a  pure  yellow  colour,  but  such  as  incline  to 
green.  The  English  term  for  this  class  of  pigments  is 
or  was  "jwnX:."  Thus  we  have  ^^  Dutch pinkj'*  ^^  Ita- 
lian pinky**  '^  brown  pink"  &c. 

Volpato  observes  *  that  giallo  santo  should  be  of  a 


•  Table  of  Synonymes,  p.  36.     »  Trattato,  cap.  120.     a  p.  703.     4  P.  744. 


CHAP,  vl]  COLOUKS  used  IN  PAINTING.  clxv 

fine  colour,  that  in  grinding  it  should  become  very 
liquid,  so  as  to  require  but  very  little  oil  to  temper  it, 
and  that  it  should  dry  very  quickly,  which  is  a  sign 
that  it  is  pure ;  but  if  it  hardens  and  requires  a  great 
deal  of  oil  in  grinding,  this  is  a  proof  that  it  contains 
dust  and  other  impurities,  and  in  this  case  it  dries  slowly 
and  fades  on  the  pictures. 

As  another  test,  he  directs  ^  that  the  colour  should  be 
exposed  to  the  sun ;  if  it  faded,  it  was  bad.  He  also 
mentions  that  it  should  not  be  kept  in  water.  Giallo 
santo  appears  to  have  been  extensively  used  by  the 
Italians,  and  although  it  is  included  among  the  colours 
which  Boschini  says  the  Venetians  "  detested  like  the 
plague,"  it  appears,  on  his  own  evidence,  that  it  was  em- 
ployed by  Giacomo  Bassano  in  shading  yellow  drapery. 
The  pigment  is  also  mentioned  by  Biondo,  by  Arme- 
nini,  by  Borghini,  and  in  the  Paduan  MS.  Malvasia 
says  that  it  was  used  by  Tiarini  and  Cavedone. 

Saffron^  zafferanOj  tie  crocus  of  the  middle  ages,  is 
produced  from  the  flowers  of  the  crocus.  Peter  de  S. 
Audemar  informs  us  that  safiron  was  produced  in 
France  in  his  time ;  but  he  says  the  French  saflfron  was 
not  good;  he  mentions  that  this  drug  was  imported 
from  Spain  and  Italy,  and  that  the  best  kind  was 
brought  from  Sicily,  and  was  called  coriscos.  The  plant  is 
cultivated  extensively  in  England  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  SaflSpon-Walden,  and  the  name  of  the  place  is  derived 
from  this  circumstance.  It  was  brought  into  England 
from  the  Levant  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  introduced  is  thus  described  by 
Hakluyt  :* — "  It  is  reported  at  Saflfron-Walden,  that  a 
pilgrim,  purposing  to  do  good  to  his  country,  stole  a  head 
of  safiron,  and  hid  the  same  in  his  palmer's  stafi^,  which 
he  had  made  hollow  before  on  purpose,  and  so  he 
brought  this  root  into  this  realm  with  venture  of  his 

1  P.  744.  >  See  Beckmanns  Inventions)  vol.  i.  p.  179,  n. 


clxvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

life ;  for  if  he  had  been  taken,  by  the  law  of  the  country 
from  whence  it  came,  he  had  died  for  the  facf 

To  these  vegetable  pigments  may  be  added  gamboge^ 
which  is  a  gum  resin  that  flows  from  the  Hebradendron 
Gambogioides.  It  derives  its  name  from  Kamboia,  a 
river  in  Siam,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  the  gum  is  ob- 
tained in  abundance.  It  was  certainly  in  use  in  the 
Venetian  territories  at  the  period  when  the  Paduan 
MS.  was  written,  and  is  believed  to  have  been  employed 
by  Paolo  Veronese.  It  was  sometimes  purified  by  being 
ground  up  with  lemon  juice  and  roche  alum.^ 

Gamboge  is  prepared  for  painting  in  oil  by  depriving 
it  of  its  gum.  Marcucci  recommends*  the  following 
method : — "  Gamboge  of  the  finest  colour  is  to  be 
ground  with  water ;  it  is  then  to  be  put  into  a  china 
cup,  and  a  sufficient  quantity  of  water  is  to  be  poured 
on  it  to  cover  it  twice  its  own  height ;  after  being  left 
thus  two  days,  the  supernatant  water  is  to  be  decanted, 
and  the  resin  which  remains  at  the  bottom  of  the  water 
is  to  be  dried.  When  quite  dry,  a  quantity  of  spirit  of 
turpentine  sufficient  to  cover  it  is  to  be  poured  over  it, 
and  the  cup  is  to  be  placed  upon  warm  ashes  until  the 
resin  is  quite  dissolved  and  incorporated  with  the  tur- 
pentine. A  little  nut  oil  is  then  to  be  added,  and  it  is 
to  be  preserved  for  use."  Marcucci  adds,  "this  is 
excellent  for  glazing  yellow  and  green  draperies;  for 
the  latter  it  must  be  mixed  with  ultramarine."  Other 
modes  of  preparation  are  mentioned  by  Mr.  Eastlake 
in  his  recent  work.' 

It  appears  from  the  Brussels  MS.^  that  gamboge 
was  in  use  in  France  in  1635.  Palomino  re- 
marks' that  this  pigment,  which  he  calls  "  Gutiambar," 
was  employed  to  glaze  yellow  draperies,  and  that  it 
dried  so  badly  as  to  require  the  addition  of  the  com- 
mon drying  oil. 

I  P.  660.  S  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  135.         >  Materials,  &c.,  p.  442. 

<  P.  7S4.  5  Musco  Pictorico,  vol.  ii.  p.  63. 


CBAP.  n,]  COLOUBS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxvii 

A  recipe  for  an  artificial  pigment  somewhat  analo- 
gous to  the  modern  pigment  called  "  Gallstone*'  appears 
in  the  second  book  of  Eraclius.  It  consisted  of  the 
gall  of  a  large  fish  precipitated  on  a  white  earth.  It 
was  said  to  have  resembled  orpiment  in  colour. 

Aloes. — ^The  inspissated  juice  of  the  aloe  spicata. 
The  plant  is  a  native  of  Africa.  The  finest  kind  of 
aloes  has  a  brilliant  reddish-brown  colour,  and  is  trans- 
lucent at  the  edges  of  the  fragmented  pieces ;  its 
fracture  is  smooth  and  conchoidal,  its  odour  aromatic 
and  rather  agreeable,  its  powder  deep  gold  colour,  its 
tasfi^  intensely  bitter  and  nauseous.  But  such  is  rarely 
found  in  trade ;  it  is  generally  opaque,  of  a  dull  brown, 
when  it  is  called  Hepatic  aloeSy  often  passing  into  black, 
when  it  is  denominated  CabaUine  aloes.  It  appears  to 
be  a  mixture  of  gum,  extractive,  and  a  little  resin.  It 
is  nearly  soluble  in  boiling  water,  but  as  the  solution 
cools,  some  resin  and  altered  extractive  are  thrown 
down ;  the  alkalies  and  their  carbonates  form  with  it 
permanent  solutions,  and  proof  spirit  dissolves  and  re- 
tains it  with  only  a  slight  precipitation  of  resin.  Ca- 
balline  aloes  are  mentioned  by  Lionardo  da  Yinci^  as 
an  improvement  to  the  colour  of  verdigris,  and  he 
recommends  its  solution  in  warm  spirit  (aqua  vitae). 

Orange-coloured  Pigments. 

The  ochreous  pigment  called  Arzica  in  the  Table  of 
Sponymes,  afibrds,  when  burnt,  an  orange-coloured 
pigment,  which  is  likely  to  prove  a  valuable  addition 
to  the  palette. 

Orange  or  red  orpiment — realgar. — ^This  pigment,  as 
well  as  yellow  orpiment,  is  sometimes  found  native.  It 
is  also  prepared  artificially  by  melting  it  in  a  crucible 
over  a  charcoal  fire,  and  when  cool,  grinding  it" 

Burnt  or  orange  orpiment  is  mentioned  by  Borghini' 

1  Tnttato,  ctp.  120.         >  Paduan  MS.,  p.  662.         '  Rtposo,  p.  166. 


clxviii  INTRODUCTION.  [ciiap.  tl 

« 

and  by  Lomazzo/  who  observes  with  regard  to  this 
pigment,  which  was  said  to  be  of  the  colour  of  gold, 
"and  this  is  the  alchemy  of  the  Venetian  painters." 
Matthioli  makes  a  similar  remark ;  after  describing  the 
manner  of  converting  the  yellow  orpiment  into  red  by 
burning  it,  he  says,  that  every  one  may  provide  himself 
with  the  latter  by  inquiring  for  it  in  the  "  calle"  (lanes 
or  narrow  streets)  of  Venice,  where  colours  are  sold. 
It  is  probable  that  red  orpiment  was  used  by  some  of 
the  Venetian  artists,*  since  a  colour  resembling  it  is 
frequently  seen  on  pictures  of  this  school,  particularly 
on  those  of  Bonifazio.  A  few  ounces  of  a  pigment  of 
the  colour  of  orange  orpiment  was  given  to  me  at 
Milan  by  an  artist  who  told  me  it  was  used  by  Titian, 
and  that  he  had  procured  it  at  an  old  coloiu>shop  in 
Venice.  He  called  the  colour  rauschel  minercde^  and 
said  that  he  had  shown  the  pigment  to  a  colourman  at 
Bergamo  who  knew  it  by  that  name.  From  the  name, 
therefore,  it  may  be  conjectured,  that  the  pigment  was 
native  red  orpiment  or  realgar,  and  that  the  name  by 
which  it  was  known  to  this  artist  was  intended  for 
ruschegel  or  ravschgelb.  This  pigment  was  called  jcMe 
or  oropimente  quemado  by  the  Spaniards,'  and  sanda- 
raca  by  the  Greeks,*  It  is  considered  to  be  less  durable 
than  yellow  orpiment,  and  extremely  corrosive,  for 
Merimfee  relates*  that  where  it  had  been  employed  on 
flower-pieces,  it  appears  to  have  corroded  the  priming. 
The  term  sandaraca  was  also  applied  during  the  middle 
ages  to  red  lead,  or  minium.^  With  the  artists  of  this 
period  it  must  have  been  a  favourite  colour ;  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  numerous  recipes  for  preparing  it  which 


I  Trattato,  p.  J  91. 

s  Marcucci  is  of  this  opinion :  see  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  226 — 228.    According 
to  this  writer,  it  was  also  used  by  Fra  BartoJomeo :  see  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  215. 
^  Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  66. 
4  Diosc,  lib.  V.  cap.  80,  by  Matt.,  p.  1428. 
&  De  la  Peinture  k  PHuile,  p.  124. 
•  See  Table  of  Synonymes,  p.  36.     S,  Audemar,  p.  141. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOUBS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxix 

occur  in  old  MSS.  on  art^  and  from  its  being  mentioned 
so  much  more  frequently  than  vermilion.  It  was 
purified  by  washing  it  in  a  horn  with  wine  and  water.^ 
When  to  be  used  on  walls  it  was  to  be  mixed  with  gum 
water,  when  on  parchment  with  egg,  but  when  on  wood 
with  oil.  For  illuminating  books  it  was  frequently 
mixed  with  vermilion.* 

It  is  mentioned  by  many  Italian  writers  on  painting,' 
and  has  been  found  on  Venetian  pictures  of  the  best 
period.  Boschini  informs^  us  that  it  was  used  by 
Pordenone,  by  Paolo  Veronese,*  and  by  Maffeo  Verona. 
Sig.  Pietro  Palmaroli  states*  that  it  was  employed  by 
Titian.  According  to  Marcucci,  it  was  also  used  by 
Fra  BartolomeoJ 

Lomazzo  states^  that  it  was  sometimes  mixed  with 
lake.  Lebrun  recommends^  it  in  painting  fleshy  and 
says,  ''If  some  minium  be  mixed  with  white  lead  and 
a  little  fine  lake,  a  most  beautiful  carnation  tint  will  be 
formed,  as  I  know  from  experience.'"  Bisagno  also 
observes^®  that  in  order  to  make  vermilion  dry,  a  little 
minium  may  be  mixed  with  it  The  general  opinion 
seems  to  be  that  minium  should  be  used  alone,  and 
according  to  the  observations  of  the  Venetian  restorers 
of  pictures  always  with  varnish. 

Palomino  alludes^^  more  than  once  to  its  want  of 
durability ;  he  says  that,  ^^  after  a  time  it  throws  upon 
the  surface  a  kind  of  salt  which  destroys  the  juice  of 
the  picture."  Perhaps  this  defect  may  be  corrected  by 
purifying  the  red  lead  in  the  manner  described  by  De 
Mayeme,"  who  observes,  "  If  you  extract  the  salt  firom 


1  Le  Begae,  p.  143,  295.  *  Ibid.,  p.  141,  297. 

>  Biondo,  c.  20.    Lomazzo,  Trattato,  pp.  191,  193.     Borghini,  p.  166. 
Yolpato,  p.  745.     Paduan  MS.,  p.  655. 

4  Riccbe  MiDere.  ^  See  also  Marcuoci,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  228. 

*  Note  to  Marcucci,  p.  226.  "*  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  217. 

•  Trattato,  p.  195.  9  Brussels  MS.,  p.  820,  822. 

>•  TratUto  della  Pittura,  p.  206.  "  Vol.  i.  p.  56 ;  vol.  ii.  p.  52. 

"See  Mr.  Eastlake's  *  Materials,'  &r.,  p.  452. 


clxx  INTRODUCTION.  Iceaf,  vh 

minium  by  washing  it  with  distilled  vinegar  the  re* 
mainder  does  not  fade  and  dries  very  well."  When 
minium  is  thus  purified,  it  appears  to  resemble  the 
pigment  formerly  known  by  the  name  of  Saturnine  red ; 
which  consisted  merely  of  minium  washed  in  large  ves- 
sels of  distilled  water,  which  was  changed  every  forty-four 
hours,  till  the  surface  was  quite  free  from  extraneous 
matter,  and  the  colour  ceased  to  blacken  at  the  edge  of 
the  vessel.  The  colour  was  afterwards  purified  with 
spirits  of  wine.^  Facheco  mentions'  that  native  red 
lead  (azarcon  de  la  tierra)  was  ucied  in  his  time  in 
tempera  painting. 

Red  Pigments. 

A  great  variety  of  native  red  pigments  have  always 
been  used  in  painting.  They  all  owe  their  colour  to 
iron.*  Of  this  kind  were  the  sinopia  of  Pliny  and 
Cennini,  the  terra  rossa  d' Inghilterra,  terra  rossa  di 
Spagrui^  Majolica,  ferretta  di  Spagna,  almagrej  Pa- 
vonazo^  Indian  red,  light  red,  Venetian  red,  hcBmatile, 
lapis  amatito,  sanguine,  terra  rvbea,  bruntis,  brown  red, 
mottSe  de  sil,  red  ochres. 

The  terra  rossa  d*Inghilterra,  so  fi-equently  men- 
tioned by  Italian  writers,  is  still  sold  in  Italy,  where  it 
is  imported  from  England. 

The  colour  called  Venetian  red  is  procured  firom 
Verona.  Besides  its  use  in  painting,  this  earth  was 
formerly  much  employed  in  making  the  bricks  of 
which  many  of  the  old  buildings  in  Venice  arc  con- 
structed. The  fine  colour  of  these  bricks,  heightened 
perhaps  by  their  contrast  with  the  green  waters  of  the 


1  Constant  de  Massoul,  p.  205. 

>  Tratado,  p.  345.  Native  minium  occurs  amorphous  and  pnlverulent, 
but  when  examined  by  the  lens  exhibits  a  crystalline  structure.  It  is  sup- 
posed to  bean  oxide  of  lead,  and  to  arise  from  the  decomposition  of  galena, 
in  which  it  commonly  occurs.     Phillips,  Min.,  p.  S37. 

3  The  different  kinds  of  red  earth  used  in  painting  are  fully  described 
in  the  Introduction  to  my  work  on  Fresco  Painting,  pp.  xiii. — zxxit. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxxi 

narrow  canals,  can  scarcely  have  escaped  the  observation 
of  travellers. 

Hill,  the  translator  of  Theophrastus,  mentions  that 
what  is  sold  in  the  shops  as  Indian  red  is  a  native  red 
earth  [haematite]  found  in  England.  He  states  (p.  122, 
n.  9),  *'  I  have  a  specimen  of  some  from  the  Forest  of 
Dean  in  Gloucestershire,  very  little  inferior  to  the  sort 
brought  from  Ormuz  in  the  Persian  Gulf,  which  is  so 
much  esteemed  and  used  by  our  painters  under  the 
name  of  Indian  red.  It  is  indeed  so  like,  both  in 
colour  and  quality,  that  it  is  used  for  it,  as  the  people 
employed  in  taking  it  up  informed  me,  and  sent  to 
London  to  be  sold  under  its  name.  On  comparing  it 
with  some  of  the  true  Persian  kind,  which  I  had  from 
the  East  Indies,  I  find  it  of  a  paler  colour,  but  of  a  much 
finer  texture."  The  real  Indian  red  has  also  a  sparkling 
appearance,  which  is  wanting  in  the  common  sort. 

The  Sinopia  of  Pliny  and  Cennini  was,  as  has  been 
before  mentioned,  a  red  earth  originally  brought  from 
Sinope,  but  medieval  writers  north  of  the  Alps  gave 
the  name  of  Sinopia^  or  Sinopis  de  MeUanOj  to  a  kind 
of  lake  made  either  of  the  gum  of  the  ivy  ground  with 
vinegar  and  mixed  with  wheat  flour,  or  of  the  gum  of 
ivy  and  madder.^  Sinopis  is  sometimes  written  for 
cinnabar,  as  in  p.  68,  where  it  is  said  to  be  made  of 
mercury.  The  term  Vermiculus  is  used  by  Le  Begue^ 
to  denote  the  red  colour  called  "  coccus,"  which  was 
undoubtedly  the  coccus  of  the  ancients.  It  is  synony* 
mous  with  kermes.'  In  the  Bolognese  MS.  it  is  put  for 
vermilion.*  Cinnabar^  or  vermilion^  is  of  two  kinds, 
natural  and  artificial.  Both  are  stated  to  have  been 
used  by  the  Italians  and  Spaniards  in  painting,  but 
the  former  was  preferred  for  fresco-painting,  although 
the  latter  was  of  a  much  finer  colour.  If  we  may 
judge  from  the  recipes  in  old  treatises,  the  medieval 

1  lie  Begue,  p.  145.  *  Table  of  Synonjtnes,  p.  38. 

5  Matth.  1085.  *  P.  449. 


clxxii  INTRODUCTION.  •  [chap.yi. 

artists  employed  the  latter  only.  Directions  for  re- 
fining and  purifying  it  are  given  in  the  Bolognese  MS., 
the  Paduan  MS.,^  and  in  the  recipes  at  the  end  of  the 
Abecedario  Pittorico. 

Lebrun  observes,*  that  vermilion  is  frequently  adul- 
terated with  lime  ;  to  detect  this  he  recommends  that 
some  should  be  put  on  the  blade  of  a  knife  and  heated ; 
if  good,  it  would,  when  cold,  be  of  the  same  colour  as 
before ;  but  if  one  side  of  the  knife  remained  black,  and 
then  became  brown  and  dark,  this  would  be  a  proof  of 
its  impurity. 

Native  cinnabar  does  not  appear  to  be  mentioned  by 
writers  on  art  previous  to  the  latter  part  of  the  16th 
century,  when  it  is  spoken  of  together  with  the  artificial 
by  Lomazzo'  and  Borghini.^  It  is  also  mentioned  and 
described  by  the  Spanish  writers  Cespides,  Pacheco,*  and 
Palomino,*  and  by  Ffelibien.'  I  was  informed  by  a 
Venetian  artist  that  both  native  and  artificial,  or,  as  he 
called  the  latter,  Dutch  cinnabar,  had  been  found  among 
the  colours  of  Venetian  pictures  which  he  had  pro- 
cured to  be  analysed.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how 
native  cinnabar  can  be  distinguished  by  chemical 
analysis  from  artificial,  since  mercury  combines  with 
sulphur  in  two  proportions  only,  forming  the  protosul- 
phuret  which  is  black,  and  the  bisulphuret  (vermilion 
or  cinnabar)  which  is  red.*  The  difficulty  may  perhaps 
be  explained  by  a  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  name 
of  "  mineral  cinnabar**  was  given  by  the  Italians  to  the 
hard   red  hsematite.      Agricola    says,  that  the   stone 

1  See  pp.  600,  660,  and  664. 
«  Bnwsels  MS.,  p.  814.  «  Trattato,  p.  191,  192. 

.  «  Riposo,  p.  167.  »  Tratado,  p.  342. 

0  Muaeo  Pictorico,  vol.  i.  p.  359 ;  vol.  li.  pp.  53,  149,  340. 

7  De  la  Peinture,  p.  299. 
®  The  atomic  composition  is  stated  to  be  as  follows : 

The  protoBulphuret— 1  atom  mercury  200+1  atom  sulphur  1&b216. 
The  bisulphuret— I  atom  mercury  200+2  atoms  sulphur  32^^232. 
According  to  Phillips  (Min.,  p.  358),  the  composition  of  native  cinnabar 
is  quicksilver  84*5 — sulphur  14*75. 


^.M* 


CHAP.  ▼!.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxxiii 

which  he  calls  schist  (after  Pliny)  resembled  in  appear- 
ance minium^  and  that  the  painters  called  it  cinnabar ; 
that  when  calcined  it  imitated  the  colour  of  cinnabar. 
This  ^s  confirmed  by  Borghini,!  who  states  that  lapis 
amatita  (the  haematite)  is  called  by  some  persons 
"mineral  cinnabar."  Baldinucci'  and  Alberti'  make 
the  same  remark ;  and  Fungelone^  mentions  a  design 
by  Correggio,  in  which  may  be  seen  several  "  pen- 
timenti"  drawn  with  '^matita,  comunemente  detta 
cinabro  minerale."  It  is  not,  therefore,  unreasonable 
to  conclude,  that  the  mineral  cinnabar  said  to  have 
been  found  on  Venetian  pictures  may  have  been  the 
colour  procured  from  the  hard  red  haematite  burnt ;  at 
the  same  time  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  if  the 
pigment  so  called  had  actually  been  subjected  to  analysis, 
its  composition  must  have  been  settled  beyond  a  doubt, 
since  no  chemist  could  have  mistaken  a  combination  of 
mercury  and  sulphur  for  an  ore  of  iron.  Vermilion  has 
been  used  by  all  Italian  and  Spanish  painters.  Lomazzo^ 
and  Pacheco  •  direct  it  to  be  sometimes  employed  in 
flesh  tints.  Its  use  by  Flemish  writers  in  painting  has 
been  mentioned  by  Mr.  Eastlake.^  Cennini  recommends  • 
that  cinnabar  should  be  purchased  in  the  mass  and 
never  bruised  or  ground,  because  it  was  frequently 
adulterated  with  minium  or  pounded  bricks. 

Lakes. — The  red  lakes  used  by  the  Italian  painters 
were  either  of  animal  or  of  vegetable  origin,  or  a 
miiture  of  both  kinds. 

To  the  first  class  belonged  the  lake  produced  from 
kerroes  or  grana,  the  most  common  form  of  which  was 
the  lacca  di  cimatura,  lac  lake,  and  cochineal  lake.  To 
the  second  class  belonged  the  lake  made  from  Brazil 

'  Ripow,  p.  168.  •  Voc.  Dis. 

*  Diz.  Edc,  tit.  Cinabro  ndnerak^  and  LoqpU. 

*  Life  of  Correggio,  yoI.  i.  p.  174. 

» Tnotito,  p.  312.         •  Tratado,  p.  386.         "^  *  Materials/  &c.,  p.  449. 

*  Tmitato,  cap.  xl. 


clxxiv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.ti. 

wood  or  verzino.     The  third  description  was  composed 
of  a  mixture  of  the  first  and  second  kinds  of  lake. 

Kermes  or  Grana. — The  dead  bodies  of  the  female 
insect  of  the  coccus  ilicis,  which  lives  upon  the  leaves 
of  the  prickly  oak.  It  appears  to  have  been  known 
from  the  time  of  Moses,  and  has  been  employed  from 
an  early  period  in  India  to  dye  silk.  It  was  called  by 
the  Greeks  coccus  haphica,  by  the  Latins  granum  in- 
fectoriurrij  by  Pliny  coccigranum,  by  the  Arabs  charmerij 
kermeSy  and  chermeSj  by  the  Germans  scharhck  ber,  by 
the  Spaniards  grana  para  teHir  and  grana  in  grano^  by 
the  French  vermillony  and  by  the  Italians  grana  or 
grana  da  tentori} 

The  kermes  grains  or  berries,  whence  tiie  name 
grana,  are  mentioned  (probably  as  a  dye)  in  the  Lucca 
MS.  and  the  Glavicula '  under  the  name  of  coccarin,  and 
in  the  latter  MS.  they  are  identified  with  cinnaberm 
and  vermiculum :  "  Vermiculi  tereni  qui  in  foliis  ceri 
nascitur — coccarin  nascitur;  sicut  supra  dictum  est,  in 
foliis  ceri."  They  are  constantly  to  be  traced  as  a  dye 
during  the  middle  ages  in  the  South  of  Europe,  and 
are  noticed  in  a  commercial  agreement  between  Bologna 
and  Ferrara  as  early  as  1 193,  and  in  the  Statutes  of 
Marseilles  for  the  year  1287.  At  Montpellier  no  other 
dye  was  permitted  to  be  used  for  the  finest  red  stu&' 
In  the  fourteenth  century  Florence  *  and  Venice  *  were 
celebrated  for  their  red  stufls  dyed  with  kermes,  which 
the  latter  city  exported  to  other  parts  of  Italy.     The 


1  See  Matthioli,  p.  1085.  >  See  Mappee  Clavicula,  p.  41. 

s  Depping,  vol.  i.  pp.  241,  293, 300.  <  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  pp.  234, 235. 

A  Filiasi,  Saggio,  &c.,  pp.  153,  154  n.  HeUot  (L'Art  de  Teinture, 
Paris,  1701,  pp.  244,  264)  said  this  red  colour  was  called  "  Ecarlatte  de 
graiiie,"  formerljr  *'  Ecarlatte  de  France,"  and  now  '*  Ecarlatte  de  Yenise," 
because  it  was  much  used  there,  and  more  was  made  there  than  an/  other 
place.  He  adds,  "  the  red  draperies  of  the  figures  in  the  old  Brussels 
tapestries  were  dyed  with  this  ingredient,  and  their  colour,  which  in  aooie 
of  these  tapestries  is  200  years  old,  has  lost  nothing  of  its  vivacity."  In 
his  time  kermes  was  only  used  to  dye  wool  for  tapestry. 


CHAP,  vij  COLOURS  TTSBD  IN  PAINTING.  clxxv 

red  stiiffi  dyed  with  kermes  or  grana  found  their  way 
into  the  towns  of  the  North  of  Europe.  Pierce  Plow- 
man (whose  'Vision '  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  in 
1350),  in  describing  the  dress  of  a  lady  richly  clad, 
says  that  her  robe  was  of ''  scarlet  in  grain ;"  that  is, 
scarlet  dyed  with  grana,  the  best  and  most  durable  red 
dye.  The  import  of  the  words  "  in  grain  *'  was  after- 
wards changed,  and  the  term  was  applied  generally  to 
all  colours  with  which  cloths  were  dyed  which  were  con- 
sidered to  be  permanent ;  in  this  sense  it  is  still  used. 

The  idea  of  preparing  a  pigment  directly  from  the 
kermes  grains  appears  not  to  have  suggested  itself  to 
the  early  painters,  who  employed  the  rather  indirect 
process  of  boiling  the  clippings  or  shearings  ^  of  cloth 
dyed  with  kermes  in  ley,  and  then  precipitating  the 
colour  with  alum.  The  colouring  matter,  combined 
with  alumina,  was  well  washed  to  remove  the  salts,  and 
after  being  dried  on  a  porous  stone  or  brick  was  pre- 
served in  small  cakes.  The  pigment  so  produced  was 
the  "  lacca  di  cimatura  di  grana  da  rosato,"  commonly 
called  "  lacca  di  cimatura,"  which  appears  to  have  been 
in  common  use  as  a  red  pigment  until  the  seventeenth 
ceutury.*  Neri  is  probably  the  first  author  who  gives  a 
recipe  for  a  red  pigment  prepared  directly  from  the 
kermes.  The  method  he  recommends  was,  he  said, 
invented  by  himself  at  Pisa.*  Other  recipes  for  lake 
from  the  kermes  berries  are  contained  in  the  Paduan 
MS.*  Lake  from  "  quermes  "  was  used  in  France  for 
oil  and  miniature  painting  in  1 682.^^ 

As  a  dye  the  kermes  was  considered  among  the  most 
durable  of  all  colours.     M.  Hellot  says,'  "  From  the 

1  These  consisted  of  the  loose  wool,  which  was  removed  from  the  face 
of  the  cloth,  in  order  to  produce  a  smooth  surface. 

*  See  Cennini,  Trattato,  cap.  44;  Le  Begue,  p.  91 ;  Bol.  MS.,  p.  433, 
&c. ;  Secret!  di  D.  Alessio,  part  i.  p.  103 ;  Canepario,  p.  386. 

•  Arte  Vetraria,  lib.  vii.  cap,  119.  <  P.  703. 

*  See  Trutd  de  Mignature  de  C.  Ballard,  p.  14. 

•  L'Art  de  Teinture,  p.  264. 


clxxvi  INTRODUCTION.  [cbaf.  vi. 

experiments  which  have  been  made  with  the  scarlet  dye 
from  kermes,  as  well  by  exposure  to  the  sun  as  by 
different  re-agents,  it  has  been  found  that  there  is 
neither  a  better  nor  more  durable  colour,  and  yet  it  is 
used  nowhere  but  at  Venice."  This  author  attributes 
the  solidity  of  the  colour  of  the  kermes  to  its  being 
nourished  on  a  shrub  possessing  astringent  properties, 
which  have  been  communicated  to  the  insect ;  for  he 
remarks  *^  that  all  barks,  roots,  woods,  fruits,  and  other 
substances  of  an  astringent  nature,  furnish  durable 
colours  for  dyeing."*  The  Italian  painters  were  aware 
of  this  property  possessed  by  astringent  substances  of 
rendering  colours  more  durable,  and  we  find  accordingly 
that  assafcetida,'  a  handful  of  the  bark  of  the  white 
beech,  or  three  or  four  small  branches  of  the  Lombardy 
poplar,  were  boiled  with  the  lake  in  order  to  make  the 
colour  more  permanent'  The  bark  of  the  white  beech 
was  considered  best  for  rose  colours ;  the  practice  was 
not  confined  to  the  red  from  kermes,  but  extended  also 
to  madder  lake. 

Cremisiy  Cremisino. — Although  there  appears  to  be 
no  doubt  that  chermes  and  grana  were  really  synony- 
mous, yet  it  also  appears  that  the  term  cremisino  was 
applied  in  Italy  during  the  time  of  Matthioli  to  the 
colour  procured  from  certain  berries  or  grains  attached 
to  the  roots  of  the  pimpinella,*  as  well  as  to  cochineal. 
Matthioli  adds,*  "  There  is  now  brought  from  the  West 
Indies  by  way  of  Spain  a  new  kind  of  cremisino ;  and 
as  great  quantities  of  it  are  made  in  Italy,  it  has  lowered 
the  price  of  silks  of  this  colour."  This  cremisino  from 
the  West  Indies,  brought  by  way  of  Spain,  can  be  no 
other  than  cochineal ;  it  is  therefore  certain  that  it  was 
well  known  and  abundant  in  Italy  at  least  as  early  as 

1  L'Art  de  Teinture,  p.  271.  »  Bol.  MS.,  pp.  435,  442. 

s  Trait6  de  la  Peinture  au  Pastel.  Paria,  17SS. 

^  Poterium  sanguisortNi.  The  Burnet,  probably  the  BninctaoftfaeSlaano 
MS.  No.  1754.  a  Matt.,  p.  1085. 


>m_ 


CHAF.  Yi.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxxvii 

1549,  the  date  of  Matthioli's  work.  This  may  also  be 
considered  to  be  proved  by  the  *Tariffa  Perpetua  di  . 
Zuane  Mariani,''  in  which  cremese  is  mentioned  as  well  as 
"  grana  **  and  "  polvere  di  grana."  Both  are  also  spoken 
of  in  the  *  Plicto.'*  These  notices  are  certainly  evidence 
that  the  terms  were  not  synonymous.  Matthioli  iurther 
states  that  at  the  time  his  work  was  written  a  lake  was 
made  for  painters  from  the  cremese  or  cremisino,  and 
Canepario '  carefully  distinguishes  grana  from  karbisini 
or  cremesi.  Cochineal  lake  is  mentioned  in  the  Paduan 
MS.^  In  this  treatise  it  is  stated  to  have  been  pre- 
pared for  painting  by  boiling  it  with  lemon-juice,  garlic- 
juice,  and  burnt  alum ;  this  treatment  would  probably 
communicate  to  it  a  scarlet  tint  The  anonymous 
author  of  the  ^  Trattato  di  Miniatura  '^  states  that  the 
colour  called  ^^  lacca  fina  di  Yenezia ''  was  made  from 
cochineal  after  the  carmine  had  been  extracted,  and 
that  this  pigment  was  made  at  Paris. 

The  cochineal  insect  is  produced  on  diiferent  species 
of  cactus.  The  most  perfect  variety  is  that  which 
breeds  on  the  cactus  coccinillifer.  When  the  Spaniards 
first  arrived  in  Mexico  they  saw  the  cochineal  em- 
ployed by  the  native  inhabitants  in  communicating 
colours  to  some  ornaments  and  in  dyeing  cloth.  Struck 
with  its  beautiful  colour,  they  transmitted  accounts  of 
it  to  the  Spanish  ministry,  who,  about  the  year  1523, 
ordered  Cortes  to  direct  his  attention  to  the  propagation 
of  this  substance.  The  pigment  prepared  from  cochi- 
neal, though  extremely  beautiful,  is  not  so  durable  as 
those  from  lac  and  kermes.  It  is,  however,  worthy  of 
trial  whether  it  may  not  be  rendered  more  durable  by 

1  Published  at  Venezia,  1567.  *  Venice,  1557. 

*  De  Atramentis  diverai  Coloribus,  pp.  326,  336. 

*  Pp.  661,  699,  703,  709. 

^  This  work,  which  was  published  at  Turin  in  1758,  appears  to  be  a 
translation  of  Ballard's  Traits  de  Mignature.  In  this  last  work,  carmine 
is  stated  to  be  made  of  cochineal  and  rocou  (Biia  orellana,  an  American 
|*int). 

VOL,  i.  m 


clxxviii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ti. 

boiling  it  with  some  astringent  bark,  as  recommended 
with  regard  to  kermes  lake. 

LaCy  Lacca. — The  term  lacca  occurs  in  the  Lucca 
MS.,  and  also  in  the  Glavicula ;  but  it  does  not  appear 
whether  it  is  used  to  signify  gum  lac  or  the  juice  of  the 
ivy,  which  is  described  by  Eraclius  in  the  chapter  en- 
titled '^De  Edera  et  Lacca.'*  These  notices  appear  rather 
to  refer  to  a  dye  than  to  a  colour  for  painting.  In  1220 
the  Catalans  and  Provengals  imported  lac  into  their 
ports  for  the  purpose  of  dyeing.^  As  a  pigment  lac 
was  known  in  Italy  at  least  as  early  as  1409,  smce 
recipes  for  making  lake  from  it  are  given  in  the  book 
lent  by  Fra  Dionisio  to  Alcherius.  Other  recipes  are 
contained  in  the  Bolognese  and  Faduan  MSS.  and  in 
that  of  Fra  Fortunato  of  Rovigo. 

Lac  does  not  appear  to  have  been  mentioned  in  the 
*  Tariffii  Ferpetua '  of  Mariani,  but  it  was  used  in  dyeing 
at  Venice  in  1557,  when  the  ^Flicto'  was  published;  and 
it  is  among  the  articles  enumerated  in  the  ^Tariffa'  of 
Bartolommeo  del  Faxi  de  Yenezia.'  Lac  lake  was  in 
use  at  Venice  in  Matthioli's  time,  and  even  as  late  as  that 
of  Caneparius.'     It  was  also  in  use  at  Naples  in  1733.^ 

Madder,  Rvbea  Tinctoria,  Mobbia  overo  Roza  di 
FiandrOy  Sandis,  Granza,  GarandOj  WaranttOj 
"  Rubea  Major ^  id  est  Waranzr — ^A  red  pigment  pre- 
pared from  this  root  is  mentioned  in  the  Sloane  MS., 
No.  1754,  and  in  that  of  S.  Audemar,^  fihe  same  recipe 
being  introduced  into  both  treatises.  In  the  former 
work  it  appears  also  to  be  alluded  to  under  the  term 
gorma : — ^^  Gorma  quedam  herba  est  que  trahit  in  pu^ 
puram  et  affertur  de  quadam  regione  et  hec  rosa 
dicitur.**    Rosa,  as  has  been  already  mentioned,  is  sy- 

1  Capmany,  Memorias,  &c. ;  and  StatuU  de  Marseille,  dted  bjr  Dep- 
ping,  vol.  i.  p.  144. 
»  Venezia,  1503. 

>  De  Atramentis,  p.  331.    This  work  was  published  in  1660. 
4  See  recipes  at  the  end  of  the  Abecedario,  publiahed  at  Naples. 
*  Le  Beguc,  p.  146. 


I 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxxix 

nonymous  with  Robbia.^  It  is  possible  that  the  menesch  of 
Theophilus  may  have  been  madder,  since  mnitsch  is  the 
Indian  name  for  this  plant.'     In  the  third  book  of 
Eraclius'  madder  is  enumerated  among  colours  for  paint- 
ing ;  it  is  also  mentioned  in  the  Table  of  Synonymes.^ 
From  the  time  the  latter  work  was  written  until  that  of 
Neri  all  traces  of  madder  as  a  pigment  seem  to  be  lost. 
Thifi  author  gives*  a  recipe  for  madder  and  versino 
lake  ;  he  remarks  that  in  making  these  lakes  a  larger 
proportion  of  madder  or  verzino  must  be  allowed  than 
of  the  cimatura,  because  the  colour  afforded  by  the  two 
former  is  not  so  deep  as  the  latter.     He  concludes  by 
observing;  **  In  this  manner  you  will  obtain  very  fine 
lake  for  painters  at  less  expense  than  that  made  from 
^ehermisi;'  the  madder  lake  especially  is  very  beau- 
tiful and  pleasing  to  the  eye/'    From  these  expressions 
it  may  almost  be  inferred  that  Neri  was  recommending 
what  he  considered  to  be  a  new  pigment ;  had  it  been 
known  to  painters,  it  would  have  been  unnecessary  to 
advert  to  the  beauty  of  the  colour.    With  the  exception 
of  Neri  the  pigment  does  not  appear  to  be  mentioned 
by  Italian  writers  until  1733,  when  madder  lake  is  no- 
ticed among  other  lakes  in  the  recipes  for  colours  at  the 
end  of  (lie  *  Abecedario  Pittorico.'     The  French  writers 
are  equally  silent  on  this  subject  until  1788,  when  the 
anonymous  author  of  the  *  Traits  de  la  Peinture  au 
Pastel '  observes,  *'  Madder  is,  of  all  the  plants  known 
in  our  climates,  that  which  yields  the  most  durable  red, 
and  the  addition  of  the  juice  of  the  poplar  makes  it  still 
mcNre  permanent    The  juice  of  the  bark  of  the  white 
beech  is  still  better  for  rose  colours."    Constant  de 
Massoul*  also  mentions  madder  lake,  which  he  says  is 
less  likely  to  change  than  any  other. 

>  See  the  '  Plicto.'  >  Nemnich,  Polyglotten  Lezicoo. 

»  P.  249,351.  *P.  34. 

*  Arte  Vetraria,  Firenze,  1612,  lib.  yii.  cap.  118. 

•  Art  or  Pwnting,  p.  208. 

m2 


clxxx  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

Madder  is  enumerated  among  the  pigments  which  it 
is  stated  were  used  by  the  great  Venetian  painters. 

Madder  has  been  used  in  dyeing  from  time  imme* 
morial,  and  by  the  Orientals  as  well  as  the  inhabitants  of 
Europe.  It  was  cultivated  and  used  extensively  for 
dyeing  in  tibe  neighbourhood  of  Avignon  and  Marseilles, 
and  it  is  mentioned  in  the  statutes  of  the  latter  city  as 
early  as  1287.^  It  grew  wild  all  over  Italy,  and  that 
produced  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome  was  at  one 
time  much  esteemed.  In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century  Dutch  or  Flemish  madder  was  preferred  to 
the  Italian,'  since  the  former  only  was  imported  into 
Venice. 

Verzino  Lake,  or  Lake  from  Brazil  Wood. — ^The 
identity  of  these  pigments  is  fully  proved  from  various 
passages  in  these  MSS.,'  and  the  numerous  recipes  which 
have  been  transmitted  to  us  by  writers  on  the  arts  show 
the  extent  to  which  verzino  lake  was  formerly  used. 
The  dyewood  from  which  the  pigment  was  prepared 
was  known  to  the  Hebrews,  as  appears  from  the  dic- 
tionary of  the  Babbi  David  Kimchi,  entitled  '  Book 
of  Roots,'  and  was  called  by  the  Arabs  *^  albakim  "  or 
"  hacam."  * 

VerzvM  ColomUno. — Marco  Polo  states  that  the 
best  verzino  grew  in  the  island  of  Ceylon,  whence 
Depping  supposes  that  the  term  "  Verzino  Colombino  " 
was  derived  from  Colombo,  the  capital  of  that  island. 
The. colour  to  which  Pierre  Pomet*  and  Marcucci*  give 
this  name  was  composed  not  of  verzino,  but  of  the 
clippings  of  scarlet  cloth ;  the  former  author  remarks 
that  the  preparation  of  this  lake  is  attended  with  much 

1  Depping,  Histoire,  &c.,  vol.  i.  p.  293.  *  See  <  Plicto.' 

s  See  Le  Begue,  p.  53:  Bol.  MS.,  p.  441.  See  also  Mr.  Eastiake's 
<  Materials/  &c.,  p.  114,  and  Caneparius,  p.  297. 

4  Diet.  Univenel,  Fran9ais  et  Latin,  vulgairement  appel^  Dictionnaire  de 
Trevoux,  Art.  Br^sil.     Paris,  1782. 

^  Histoire  Gdn^rale  des  Drogues,  vol.  i.  p.  34. 

e  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  125 ;  and  see  also  Trattato  di  Miniatura,  p.  29. 


J 


CBAP.  vij  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxxxi 

difSculty,  and  that  it  is  seldom  conducted  successfully  out 
of  Venice,  because  the  Venetians  add  to  the  alumina  a 
very  white  earth,  which  causes  the  lake  to  become  very 
light  (in  weight).  A  pigment  of  this  description  is  still 
sold  at  Venice  in  masses  of  a  pink  colour  and  powdery 
texture,  which  breaks  easily  and  is  remarkably  light  in 
weight  It  is  said  this  pigment  should  be  well  burnt. 
A  recipe  for  "  Laque  Colombine,"  composed  of  Brazil 
or  other  dyewood,  will  be  found  in  Ballard's  *  Trait6  de 
Mignature.*  Verzino  or  Brazil  wood  is  not  the  only 
wood  mentioned  in  these  MSS.  which  furnished  red 
colouring  matter.  Red  sandal-wood,^  Campeachy  or 
logwood,  are  also  mentioned ;  and  it  appears  from 
Ballard's  *  Trait^  de  Mignature '  that  when  that  work 
was  published  the  Brazil  wood  of  America  called  by  the 
French  "  le  Bresillet  de  Fernambouc"  (ccBsalpinia 
Brasiliensis)  was  used  in  making  lake  instead  of  the 
Oriental  Brazil  wood,  or  verzino  (ccesalpinia  Sappan). 

Venetian  Lake. — It  is  difficult  to  say  what  tibis  pig- 
ment really  was.  The  anonymous  author  of  the  *  Trat- 
tato  di  Miniatura'  before  mentioned  states  that  the 
"  lacca  fina  di  Venezia  **  was  composed  of  cochineal  after 
the  carmine  had  been  extracted.  Pierre  Pomet*  says 
that  it  was  made  of  cochineal,  Br^sil  of  Fernambouc, 
burnt  alum,  arsenic,  and  Egyptian  natron,  or  white 
soda.  According  to  Palomino*  Venetian  lake  was 
composed  of  gum  lac  and  grana,  or  cochineal. 

Florentine  Lake. — ^The  old  pigment  was  probably 
the  same  as  lacca  di  cimatura,  since  this  was  the  prin« 
cipal  kind  of  lake  described  by  Neri,*  whose  work  was 
published  at  Florence,  although  he  appears  to  have  re- 
sided at  Pisa.  The  modern  pigment  of  this  name  is 
made  of  cochineal  and  other  ingredients.^ 

I  P.  517.  *  Histoire  Gdndrale  des  Drogues,  toI.  i.  p.  33. 

'  Museo  Pictorico,  vol.  ii.  p.  340.  *  Arte  Vetraria,  lib.  vii.  c.  116. 

^  Dizionario  dellc  Droghe,  di  Chevalier  c  Richard,  Tradizione  da  F.  du 
Pr^,  Venezia,  1830. 


clxxxii  INTRODUCTION.  [cbaf.  ti. 

Lake  from  Ivy. — The  medieval  painters  were  accus- 
tomed to  prepare  a  red  colour  from  the  juice  or  gum 
which  in  warm  countries  flowed  from  the  ivy  in  the 
month  of  March.  This  colour  differed  from  die  lakes 
before  described,  inasmuch  as  the  juice  or  gum  was  in* 

spissated  by  boiling,  and  not  precipitated  upon  a  white 
earth. 

The  Purple  of  the  Ancients  is  mentioned  in  the 
Table  of  Synonymes.^  It  is  also  mentioned  in  the 
passages  borrowed  from  Yitruvius  in  the  third  book  of 
Eradius.' 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  characteristic  of  the 
Venetian  school  was  the  free  and  unsparing  use  of  a 
powerful  blue,  I  would  add  of  a  very  beautiful  and  cool 
lake  colour  also,  which  in  all  pictures  of  the  Venetian 
school,  from  the  Vivarini  to  Tintoretto,  invariably  re- 
tains its  colour.  The  Venetian  lakes  always  incline  to 
blue  —  an  effect  which  was  probably  produced  by  the 
mixture  of  blue  with  the  lake.  Tassi,  in  his  ^  Lives  of 
the  Bergamasque  Painters,'  speaking  of  the  ^beautifiil 
blues  and  lakes  found  on  the  cinque-cento  pictures^ 
says :  "  Where  will  you  find  such  colours  now  T* ' 
These  considerations  make  it  most  important  to  ascer- 
tain, if  possible,  what  kind  of  lakes  were  used* 

The  lakes  of  Florence  and  Venice  were  particularly 
celebrated.  We  have  seen  that  in  both  cities  the  lacca 
di  cimatura  was  most  common.  Cennini^  gives  the 
preference  to  the  pigment  prepared  from  gum  lac,  and 
it  is  generally  believed  that  the  latter  was  the  lake  most 
frequently  employed  by  the  old  masters,  especially  by 
those  of  the  Venetian  school  :^  the  colour  of  the  lake  in 
pictures  of  this  school  favours  this  supposition. 

Facheco^  on  the  contrary,  prefers  the  Florentine  to 


1  p.  26,  33.  2  p.  261. 

s  He  published  in  1793.  ^  Tiattoto,  cap.  44. 

ft  Note  by  Tambroni  to  Cennini,  Trattato,  cap.  44. 


.CHiP.  n.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxxxiii 

the  lac  lake,  as  more  durable,  but  he  says  lake  of 
Honduras  is  not  bad.  By  the  last  term  he  probably 
meant  the  lake  from  cochineal  or  American  Brazil 
wood*  Matthioli  states  ^  that  in  his  time  four  kinds  of 
lake  were  made;  namely,  1st,  that  from  eremed  or 
cremisino^  which  was  undoubtedly  cochineal ;  2nd,  that 
made  from  grana  or  hermes ;  3rd,  that  from  gum  lac ; 
and  4th,  that  from  verzino,  which  was  the  worst  and 
least  valued  of  all  the  others.  Lomazzo  mentions  more 
than  once,  in  enumerating  the  colours  used,  *^le  lacche 
tutte,"  which  is  a  proof  that  several  kinds  of  lake  were 
used  in  his  time ;  and  in  another  place  he  speaks  of 
^^grano,"  whence  we  may  infer  that  the  kermes  lake 
was  among  the  number. 

Florentine  lake  must  have  had  considerable  reputa- 
tion in  Venice,  since  Leandro  Bassano  contracted  to 
employ  it  in  his  picture  of  the  ^  Combat  of  the  Angels,' 
painted  for  the  church  of  S.  Giorgio  Maggiore  at  Venice 
in  1597.* 

A  Venetian  artist  told  me  that  the  Venetians  used 
kermes  (grana)  and  madder  lakes,  and  that  verzino 
lake  was  employed  by  Tintoret  only.  Another  artist, 
on  the  contrary,  said  that  the  Venetian  painters  used 
chiefly  verzino  lake.  A  painter  and  restorer  of  pictures 
at  Verona  believed  they  used  cochineal  lake,  and,  as 
we  have  seen,  he  may  be  right  as  &r  as  regards  the 
painters  who  lived  after  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

From  the  preceding  authorities  it  will  be  seen  that 
previous  to  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
best  lake  pigments  employed  by  the  Italian  painters 
must  have  been  either  the  lacca  di  cimatura  or  lac 
lake,  or  a  mixture  of  one  of  these  with  verzino,  and 
that  after  this  period  cochineal  lake  might  have  been  in 
use.     At  present  there  is  no  evidence  which  of  the  two 

>  Matt.  75.  *  Iscrir.  Venet.,  yoI.  iv.  p.  349. 


clxxxiv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  n. 

former  was  generally  preferred:  judging  from  the 
greater  number  of  the  recipes  for  lacca  di  cimatiira,  we 
should  perhaps  decide  that  this  was  the  pigment  gene- 
rally adopted ;  but  if  an  opinion  may  be  formed  from 
the  colour  of  the  lake  on  Italian,  and  especially  on 
Venetian  pictures,  we  should  say  that  the  lac  lake  was 
preferred. 

Chemical  analysis  does  not  diminish  the  difficulty ; 
the  lakcKioloured  pigments  of  a  miniature  of  the  end  of 
the  fourteenth  or  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  have 
been  analysed  by  Dr.  Antonio  Fabroni  of  Arezzo,  who, 
after  stating^  that  the  tint  where  it  was  mixed  with 
white  was  of  a  bright  blood  colour,  draws  the  following 
conclusions  from  his  experiments :  '^  The  behaviour  of 
this  pigment  with  re-agents  proves  that  this  colour  is  a 
combination  of  a  terrene  base,  and  probably  of  very  fine 
white  chalk  with  a  red  juice,  or  perhaps  with  several 
juices,  either  of  a  vegetable  or  animal  nature.  .It  is,  in 
fact,  a  composition  analogous  to  our  modern  lak^  or 
rather  to  the  *  stils  de  grain '  of  the  French.  .  .  .  From 
chemical  experiments  I  should  be  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  dark  red  colour  of  the  miniature  was  produced 
from  verzino,  i{\  besides  the  chronological  difficulty,*  the 
depth  and  inalterability  of  the  colour,  which  are  incom- 
patible with  the  nature  of  !6razil  wood,  did  not  oblige 
me  to  abandon  this  conjecture. 

^^  Carthamus,  gum-lac,  and  madder  appear  to  me 
excluded  by  experiment,  and  by  the  appearance  of  the 
colour  to  the  eye.  I  think  then,  that  this  lake  colour 
can  only  be  attributed  to  the  kermes  (the  coccus  of  the 
ancients)  modified  by  some  indigenous  vegetable  juice." 
Perhaps  it  may  be  safe  to  conjecture  that  where 
lake-coloured  draperies  are  of  the  colour  of  blood  they 

I  Ricerche  Chimiche  topra  le  Miniature  di  un  Manuscri Uo. 

*  Sig.  Fabroni  probably  considered  that  Brazil  gave  its  name  to  the  wood, 
whereas  it  is  supposed  that  the  name  of  the  wood  was  transferred  to  the 
country. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxxxv 

have  been  painted  with  kermes,  and  where  they  incline 
to  the  rose-colour,  ot*  pink,  that  lac-lake  has  been  used 
for  them,  if  painted  previous  to  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century ;  but  if  after  that  period,  that  either 
lac,  cochineal,  or  madder  may  have  been  employed. 

The  price  of  lake  -does  not  often  appear  in  old  docu- 
ments, although  it  is  frequently  stipulated  in  contracts 
that  it  should  be  provided  by  the  person  who  ordered 
the  picture.  It  is  however  stated^  that  the  lake  supplied 
for  the  altar-piece,  painted  in  1521,  by  Fra  Marco 
Pensaben,  at  Treviso,  was  6  lire  the  ounce,  exi^ctly 
double  the  price  of  the  azzurro. 

When  Guercino  was  painting  the  picture  called 
"  L'Amore  Virtuoso,"  25  oz.  of  lake,  besides  21  oz.  of 
lapis-lazuli  to  make  ultramarine,  were  given  to  him.* 

Yolpato  remarks'  that  lakes  should  not  only  be  of 
beautiful  colour,  but  in  grinding  they  should  have  body, 
and  not  become  liquid;  and  De  Mayerne  observes,^ 
^^  Lake  for  glazing  should  be  mixed  with  but  a  small 
quantity  of  oil,  and  should  be  ground  as  thick  as  butter, 
so  that  it  may  be  cut,  otherwise  it  will  have  no  body, 
and  be  good  for  nothing."  Lake  that  is  left  on  the 
palette  cannot  be  preserved,  like  other  colours,  by 
placmg  it  in  water,  for  that  would  spoil  it.'  Lakes 
being  slow  dryers,  the  addition  of  boiled  oil  or  pulver- 
ized glass  is  necessary  to  promote  their  desiccation.' 
Palomino^  observes  that  the  colour  which  in  Spain  is 
called  *  Laca  de  Francia,'  and  in  France  *  Carmin,' 
although  very  beautiful  for  illuminations  and  minia- 
tures, is  not  durable  in  oil ;  for  besides  losing  its  beau* 
tifiil  colour,   and  becoming  dark,    it   dries  so  badly, 

1  Memorie  TreYigiane. 

'  See  the  Accoant  Book  of  Guercino,  published  in  the  new  edition  of  the 
Felana  Pittrice.  »  P.  746. 

^  MS.,  quoted  by  Mr.  Eastlake,  *  Materials/  &c.,  p.  451  n. 

»  Volpato,  p.  741. 

•  Md^  Voc.  Dis.,  Tit.  OUo  cotto.  Paduan  MS.,  p.  666.  Pacheco, 
p.  390.  7  Museo  Pictorico,  vol.  ii.  p.  53. 


cbucxvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  vl 

that  after  being  to  all  appearance  dry,  if  the  picture  be 
washed  even  six  years  after  it  has  been  painted,  the  lake 
will  wash  off.*'  It  was  remarked  to  me  at  Venice  that 
verzino  lake  was  always  applied  as  a  glazing  colour,  and 
with  varnish. 

In  painting  lake  or  rose-coloured  draperies,  the 
Venetians  generaUy  painted  the  lights  with  pure  white, 
and  glazed  with  lake  until  the  colour  was  sufficiently 
dark.  With  lac-lake  this  was  a  wise  precaution ;  for 
Mr.  Field  remarks,^  that  white-lead  destroys  this  colour. 
We  find  that  it  was  sometimes  the  practice  to  mix  the 
bone  of  the  cuttle-fish,  or  white  chalk,  with  lake,  in 
order  to  give  it  body.  The  peculiar  kind  of  lake  now 
made  at  Venice  is  an  example  of  this.' 

Dragons^'hXooA^  a  resin  of  a  dark  red  colour,  which 
drops  in  tears  firom  the  tree  called  Fterocarpus  draco. 
It  has  been  used  firom  a  very  early  period  in  miniature 
painting,  but  is  not  considered  a  durable  colour.  Its 
tint  was  varied  by  adding  to  it  an  alkali,  or  soap,  when 
it  was  called  "  carmine,**  or  "  ponso."  When  a  lai^ 
quantity  of  soap  was  added,  it  was  called  ^*  cremesmo." 

Pavonazzo,  Purple,  and  Mulberry  colours. 

MoreUo  diferro. — Probably  some  ore  of  iron,  burnt 
until  it  assumes  a  morello  or  murrey  colour ;  or  it 
might  have  been  the  hard  red  haematite,  ground  without 
being  calcined.     It  was  used  for  painting  in  oil.' 

Vitriuoh  Romano  abbrudato. — Burnt  Roman  VitrioL 
— An  artificial  pigment,  prepared  by  calcining  sulphate 
of  iron,  by  which  process  it  acquires  a  red  colour. 

Morello  di  Sale. — The  nature  of  this  pigment  has 
not  been  well  ascertained.  It  is  distinguished  by 
Lomazzo^  firom  morello  di  ferro,  and  from  burnt  Roman 

^  Chromatography,  p.  185. 

'  And  see  Fdlibien,  de  la  Peinture,  ftc,  p.  299. 

3  Lomazzo,  Trattato,  p.  192. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  191,  *'  II  morello  di  ferro,  e  quello  di  sale,  faimo  il  morello, 
c  oltrc  di  cio  il  vetriuolo  cotto,"  &c. 


cHiF.  ▼!.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxxxvii 

Titriol.  The  same  author  also  places  it  among  the 
colours  used  in  fresco  painting.  Borghini  calls^  it 
Fagonazxo  di  sale,  and  says  it  was  used  for  painting  in 
fresco  and  in  tempera.  Haydocke,  the  translator  of 
Lomazasoy  took  much  pains  to  ascertain  the  nature  of 
this  pigment  He  says,'  *^  But  as  for  morello  di  sale,  it 
must  needes  be  the  rustof  salte,  called  flos  salis,  whereof 
Mathiolus,  1.  5,  c.  88,  uppon  Dioscorides  writing  saith, 
that  it  is  of  a  saffiron  colour,  in  these  words :  *  There  is 
a  reddish  colour,  like  unto  rust,  digged  out  of  the  Ger- 
man salt-mines,  much  desired  of  the  painters,  which, 
peradrenture,  is  ipse  flos  salis,  the  flower  itselfe  of 
salt ;  for  it  is  like  it  in  colour  and  tast ;  and  is  com- 
monly called  morello  di  sale.'  Wherefore  I  rather 
think  that  it  is  the  rust  of  iron,  and  the  rust  of  salte, 
making  naturally  a  bay  colour ;  for  which  cause  I  have 
stiQ  translated  them  the  rust  of  iron  and  salte ;  though 
in  some  places  they  agree  not  in  colour  as  they  are 
named  in  the  mixture.  So  that  I  imagine  there  is 
some  errour  crept  into  the  booke,  which  by  mine  owne 
paihes  I  cannot  yet  finde,  nor  by  my  conference  with 
many  good  painters  and  chemists." 

I  have  been  unable  to  find  the  passage  quoted  by 
Haydocke  in  Matthioli's  translation  of  Dioscorides,  lib. 
5,  cap.  88,  or  cap.  87,  in  which  he  treats  of  the  various 
kinds  of  salts.  Matthioli  says,  in  speaking  of  **  fiore  di 
sale,"  that  "  it  is  of  a  red  colour,  like  rust  of  salt — that 
it  is  very  deliquescent,  and  that  by  suffering  it  to  repose, 
the  sediment  subsides,  and  the  upper  portion  remains 
liquid."  This  description  agrees  somewhat  with  the 
information  I  received  Venice,  namely,  that  morello 
di  sale  is  the  sediment  which  subsides  from  rock-salt 
when  it  is  purified. 

Phillips*  describes  rock-salt  as  of  various  colours, 

1  Riposo,  p.  174. 

s  Translation  of  Lomazzo's  Treatise  on  Painting,  p.  100. 

*  Mincndogy,  p.  193. 


clxxxviii  INTRODUCTION-  [chap.vi. 

namely,  white,  grey,  reddish-brown,  brick-red,  violet^ 
and  green;  when  coloured  it  is  always  more  or  less 
impure.  He  says  that  red  or  greyish  clay  frequently 
alternates  in  beds  with  rock-salt 

It  seems  probable  that  morello  di  sale  was  the  same 
as  the  morellen  salz  of  the  Germans.  From  an  ana- 
lysis, made  by  a  friend,  the  latter  pigment  is  found  to 
consist  of  peroxide  of  iron,  with  a  small  quantity  of 
silica  and  alumina.  I  am  informed  that  there  is  nothing 
in  these  ingredients  which  militates  against  the  opinion 
of  the  Venetians  that  morello  di  sale  is  the  sediment 
formed  in  the  purification  of  rock-salt  This  purifica- 
tion generally  takes  place  in^  iron  vessels,  some  portions 
of  which  may  be  dissolved  and  precipitated  together 
with  the  clay  which  usually  accompanies  the  salt 

Yasari,  it  seems,  did  not  approve  of  this  colour  in 
fresco-painting.  Speaking  of  the  frescoes  of  Bufi^- 
macco,  he  says,^  "  It  was  the  custom  of  Bufialmacco,  in 
order  to  paint  the  flesh  with  greater  facility,  to  spread  a 
coat  of  morello  di  sale  over  the  whole,  which  in  time 
caused  a  salt  to  form,  which  consumed  the  white  and 
other  colours ;  whence  it  is  not  surprising  that  these 
works  are  spoiled  and  destroyed,  while  others  which  he 
painted  long  before  are  in  good  preservation.  And  I, 
who  thought  that  these  pictures  had  been  injured  by  the 
damp,  have  since  proved  by  experience,  and  by  com- 
paring them  with  other  works  of  this  artist,  that  the 
injury  did  not  arise  from  damp,  but  it  was  entirely  owing 
to  this  habit  of  Buffalmacco  that  some  of  them  are  so 
ruined,  that  not  even  the  design  is  visible ;  and  where 
the  flesh  tints  were  formerly,  nothing  now  remains  but 
the  pavonazzo.  This  method  of  painting  should  not  be 
adopted  by  any  one  who  wishes  his  pictures  to  last.** 

Folium,  TumsoL — Theophilus*  and  S.  Audemar* 
describe  three  kinds  of  folium,   namely,   red,  purple, 

1  Vita  di  Buffalmacco.         >  Theoph.  lib.  i.  cap.  zzzv.         s  P.  132. 


CBAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  clxxxix 

and  blue,  which  were  prepared  from  a  plant  used  in 
England  to  dye  wool.  According  to  these  authors,  the 
purple  folium  was  procured  artificially  by  the  addition 
of  other  ingredients  to  the  red  folium. 

S.  Audemar  gives  the  English  name  for  the  plant 
from  which  folium  was  produced ;  but  the  word  appears 
to  have  been  so  disguised  by  the  French  transcriber, 
Le  Begue,  that  it  is  quite  unintelligible. 

Fortunately,  however,  Mr.  Hendrie  has  ascertained^ 
^at  the  name  of  the  plant  from  which  folium  was  pro- 
duced, has  been  preserved  in  two  MSS.,  one  of  which 
is  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  the  other  of  the 
fifteenth.  In  the  first  of  tibese'  the  plant  which  is 
called  **  morella  "  is  described  as  growing  in  the  country 
of  St.  Giles,  and  as  producing  seeds  consisting  of 
three  grains  or  berries,  with  the  juice  of  which  were 
dyed  pieces  of  cloth,  which  yield  a  mulberry  colour 
called  folium. 

The  second  description  of  folium,  which  differs  but 
little  from  the  first,  is  from  a  MS.  belonging  to  the 
Biblioth^que  Boyale  at  Montpellier.  The  directions 
for  the  preparation  of  the  colours  resemble  those  in 
Theopfailus  and  S.  Audemar. 

From  these  MSS.  it  appears  that  the  colour  called 
folium  was  produced  from  a  plant  called  "morella,** 
the  seeds  of  which  were  formed  in  groups  of  three 
berries  in  a  cluster,  and  that  the  plant  grew  "  in  terra 
Sancti  Egidii.'*  The  Venetian  MS.  in  the  Sloane 
Collection  (No.  416)  describes  a  plant,' from  the  pulpy 

i  Theoph.,  p.  59.  *  Sloane  MS.,  No.  1764. 

*  A  ftre  pe9olla  azum  la  quale  e  molto  fina.  R.  una  erba  la  quale  se 
chimia  tonia  sole  che  e  grande  uno  bra^  e  la  foia  sua  e  fatta  chomo  lortiga 
e  dt  il  colore  a  modo  de  tera  vSie  de  quela  che  Tende  i  spi9iali  e  le  semen^e 
loe  soQo  fate  al  modo  che  e  el  mira — solle  el  so  cholore  de  le  dite  semen9e 
e  Terde  schnro  e  la  gamba  sie  biancha^a^  e  se  voi  a  chognossiere  la  dita  eba 
tola  i  manoe  tocbate  el  chollo  iContinente  te  bruxa  e  pt9aFa  e  queste  sentence 
woo  quele  de  le  qule  se  fa  el  color  arecholgi  queste  semen9e  la  maitina  P 
tempo  mill  che  lo  sole  se  lieya  c  volsse  arecholgicre  a  la  ussita  de  Zug**,  &c. 


OXC  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

seeds  of  which  blue  and  purple  colours  were  ob- 
tained ;  but  this  plant  is  called  ^^  tornasole,"  and  not 
^^  morella. "  The  description^  is  accompanied  by  a 
drawing  of  a  plant  which  bears  three  berries,  and  it  is 
followed  by  an  account  of  the  process  of  preparing  the 
colour,  which  corresponds  with  those  given  by  Theo- 
philus,  S.  Audemar,  and  the  Montpellier  MS. 

Now  there  are  two  plants  mentioned  by  medieval 
writers  under  the  name  of  ^^  morella,''  one  of  which  is 
the  solanum  nigrum,  the  solatro  nero,  or  ortense,  the 
morella,  or  herba  morella  of  the  Italians,  the  morelle 
des  jardins,  morelle  au  fruit  noir  of  the  French,  the 
black  nightshade  of  the  English.*  Red,  green,  and 
blue  dyes  were  prepared  from  the  seeds  of  this  plant,  as 
we  find  from  the  MS.  of  Le  Begue,  Nos.  94,  338 ;  the 
Bolognese  MS.,  No.  9 1 ;  and  Paduan  MS.,  Nos.  35 
and  100 ;  but  on  referring  to  the  figure  of  tiiis  plant  in 
Matthioli,  we  see  that  the  berries  grew  in  bunches  of 
four,  and  not  in  three,  and  that  in  other  respects 
it  differed  from  the  description  of  the  plant  in  the 
Venetian  MS. 

The  other  plant  called  ^^  morella "  is  the  croton 
tinctorium,  or  crozophora  tinctoria,  the  heliotropium 
minus  tricoccum,  which  is  called  in  French  toumesokj 
but  at  Montpellier  "  maurelle*"*  The  term  tricoccum 
will  not  escape  observation  as  agreeing  with  the  old 
descriptions,  and  the  name  *^  tornasole "  given  to  the 
acrid  plant  described  in  the  Venetian  MS.  sufficiently 
identifies  it  with  the  croton  tinctorium,  the  corrosive 
properties  of  which  are  well  known. 

And  now  with  regard  to  the  place  where  it  grows. 
The  heliotropium  tricoccum  grows  in  marshy  places, 
and  is  a  native  of  the  Levant  and  south  of  Europe, 
Provence  and    Languedoc,   especially  of   Galarques, 


1  For  this  recipe  from  the  Venetian  MS.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Eastlake. 

2  Ncmnich,  Polyglotten  Lexicon.  s  Ibid. 


CHAP,  vl]  colours  used  IN  PAINTING.  CXCi 

where  a  colour  is  still  prepared  by  steeping  rags  in  the 
juice  of  this  plant,^  and  the  neighbourhood  of  Nismes 
and  Montpellier.  The  Montpellier  and  Sloane  MSS.,  it 
will  be  recollected,  state  that  it  grew  in  "  terra  Sancti 
Egidii,"  and  Egidius  is  the  Latin  name  for  Gilles,  or 
Giles :  now  about  thirteen  miles  due  south  of  Nismes  is 
Sl  GiUeSj  a  town  of  great  antiquity,  the  Rhoda  Rhodi- 
orum  of  Pliny,  chiefly  remarkable  at  present  for  its 
magnificent  abbey  (which  dates  from  the  twelf\;h  cen- 
tury), and  other  medieval  remains.  This  then  is  the 
"terra  Sancti  Egidii"  of  the  MSS.,  and  the  plant 
morella  is  the  *'  maurelle  "  of  Montpellier,  the  modern 
tumsol.  Montpellier  and  its  neighbourhood  have  always 
been  celebrated  for  the  dyes  prepared  there,  and  this 
city  was  at  one  time  the  centre  of  the  commerce  of 
Languedoc.'  At  the  present  time  it  carries  on  exten- 
sive dye  and  chemical  works,  and  manufactories  of 
colours,  some  of  which  are  nearly  peculiar  to  itself  and 
neighbourhood. 

Having  now  determined  the  name  and  species  of  the 
plant  from  which  folium  was  procured,  and  the  country 
where  it  grew,  it  remains  to  account  for  the  appellation 
folium,  which,  at  first  sight,  appears  inapplicable  to  the 
juice  of  a  berry.  I  consider  that  this  is  explained  by 
the  Montpellier  and  the  Venetian  MSS.  The  directions 
in  the  former  for  preparing  the  colour  are  rather  inde- 
finite, but  the  Venetian  MS.  is  more  explicit.  It 
directs*  that  pieces  of  cloth  or  rag  are  to  be  dyed  with 
the  juice  pressed  firom  the  pulp  surrounding  the  seeds ; 
and  then  dried  in  the  shade,  and  preserved  by  laying 
them  between  the  leaves  of  a  book,  like  leaves  of  gold, 


>  Marcocd,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  132. 

*  Depping,  HiBtoire  du  Commerce,  &c,  vol.  i.  p.  802. 

a  — ^(1  e  qoando  serano  seche  le  dite  pe9e  mi  tele  T  uno  libro  de  charta 
fiobtziDa  e  tine  lo  libro  soto  lo  chavezale  a^o  che  no  pia  umiditad  e  quando 
ne  voi  adoverv  taiane  imo  puocho  e  mitelo  amoio  la  sira  T  uno  chaiiara^o 
con  uno  paocbo  de  aq^  la  mutina  sera  fato  e  lo  cholore  foro  de  la  pe^a/ 


tf 


CXCU  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  n. 

and  when  required  for  use,  tihe  colour  was  dischai^ed 
from  the  rag  by  steeping  it  in  water.  I  imi^ine  the 
dye  derived  its  name  of  ^^  folium'*  from  this  practice 
of  preserving  the  pieces  of  cloth  in  books. 

Some  little  difficulty  has  been  thrown  on  this  subject, 
fit)m  the  statement  of  Theophilus  and  S.  Audemar, 
that  red,  blue,  and  purple  colours  were  obtained  from 
the  same  plant.  In  the  Sloane  MS.  the  colour  is  said 
to  be  mulberry.  Pierre  Fomet  says  that  turnsole  en 
drapeau  consists  of  nothing  but  rags  dyed  red  with  the 
juice  of  the  heliotropium  tricoccum,  or  tornesol,  the  fruit 
of  which  makes  a  very  fine  blttSj  but  that  the  least  acid 
turns  it  red.  In  the  Table  of  Synonymes  it  is  mentioned 
among  the  red  colours.  Nemnich,*  De  Candolle,' 
L&m&ri,'  the  author  of  the  Paduan  MS.,  and  the 
translators  of  ^  Beckmann*s  Inventions,'  speak  of  it  as 
producing  a  bliie  dye.  Clusius,^  De  I'Abel,^  and  Merret,* 
who  follows  Libavius,  say  it  dyes  cloth  a  bright  green^ 
which  changes  to  blw  and  purple.  Gerarde''  mentions 
a  purple  colour  only.  Constant  de  Massoul  *  says,  a 
paste  is  prepared  from  the  fruit  of  the  heliotropium 
tricoccum,  that  grows  in  gardens  in  France.  This 
paste  being  steeped  in  water,  takes  a  beautiful  blue 
tint.  It  will  sometimes  appear  of  a  red  colour,  but  by 
adding  a  little  lime-water  it  will  return  to  its  blue  colour. 

All  these  authors  speak  of  the  colour  being  preserved 
by  dyeing  rags  in  it  It  may  be  considered  then  that 
the  colour,  when  fresh,  was  green,  that  it  became  blue 
on  drying,  and  afterwards  purple  and  red,  according  to 
the  ingredients  used  in  the  preparation. 

The  rags  thus  tinged  with  the  juice  of  the  Croton 


1  Polyglotten  Lexicon.  >  Flore  Franfaise, 

s  Hintoire  des  Drogues.  ^  Rariorum  Plant.  Hiat.,  1501. 

^  Plantarum  aeu  Stirpium  Hiat,  1576,  and  Adversaria,  1576. 

•  Notes  to  Neri,  cap.  110. 

7  The  Herball,  or  Generall  Historie  of  Plantes,  1597. 

*  Treatise  on  the  Art  of  Painting,  London,  1797,  p.  186. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  CXClU 

Tinctorium  or  Turnsol  were  called  in  Italian  Pezzette, 
literally,  small  pieces,  or  as  we  should  say,  rags ;  for 
soft,  fine,  and  worn-out  linen  cloth  was  used  for  this 
purpose.  In  Italy  the  pezzette  were  of  various  colours. 
Cennini  speaks  *  of  "  pezzette  di  Levante."  Don  Alessio 
states,  that  they  were  made  from  "  cimatura  di  grana," 
or  verzino ;  Pomet  and  L^m6ri  say  that  the  "  tourne- 
sole  en  drapeau "  of  Constantinople  was  fine  linen  or 
crape,  dyed  with  an  acid  preparation  of  cochineal. 
"  Pezzette  morelle  **  were  made  from  the  juice  of  the 
wild  elder ;  "  pezzette  pavonaze  "  from  the  juice  of  the 
myrtle.  "  Pezzette  **  of  different  colours  are  described 
in  the  Bolognese  MS.' 

I  have  little  doubt  that  the  bezette  of  the  Germans 
was  the  pezzette  of  the  Italians,  and  the  bisetus  of  the 
middle  ages. 

The  folium  of  Theophilus  and  S.  Audemar  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  folium  described  by  St. 
Isidore,  in  the  passage  quoted  by  M.  de  TEscalopier  in 
his  *  Theophilus,'  p.  293^ — "Folium  dictum,  quod  sine 
ulla  radice  innatans  in  Indiae  litoribus  colligitur.  Quod 
lino  perforatum,  siccant  Indi,  atque  reponunt  Fertur 
autem  Paradisi  esse  herba,  gustu  nardum  referens.** 

The  Catholicon  gives  a  nearly  similar  description  of 
folium,  and  adds,  that  the  precious  ointment  called 
"  foliatum  "  was  made  from  it  The  passage  evidently 
relates  to  the  Malabathrum  of  Dioscorides,  which  Mat- 
thioli*  says  was  called  "Folio  Indiano,**  and  which  was 
valued  for  its  perfume,  and  not  for  its  colour. 

Indigo  appears  also  to  have  been  called  "folium  In- 
dicum,'*  as  may  be  understood  from  the  following  passage 
from  Du  Cange,  also  quoted  by  M.  de  TEscalopier  :* — 
'^Peto,  ut  nobis  mittas  ad  decorandos  parietes  colores 
diversos,  qui  ad  manum  habentur,  videlicet  auripigmen- 
tum,  folium  Indicum,  minium,  lazur.'' 

»  Cap.  X.  «  Pp.  443,  427,  439,  443.  »  Matt,  p.  47. 

«  Th^phile,  p.  293,  n. 
VOL.  I.  n 


cxciv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap,  vl 

BisetuSy  or  Biseth  Folii. — ^There  is  some  difficulty  in 
reconciling  the  few  notices  I  have  been  able  to  collect 
respecting  this  pigment.  It  is  mentioned  in  Eraelius,^ 
who  says  ^^  Folium  incide  de  bruno;  matiza  di  his^ 
foliL^  Again,  ^'  misces  brunum  cum  albo,  fietque  pulcra 
rosa;  incide  de  bruno,  matiza  di  albo  vel  de  hiseto 
foiar  "  Viride  incide  de  nigro^  et  matizabis  de  bisetoJ' 
^  Indicum  incide  de  nigro ;  matiza  de  azurio,  vel  de 
vergaut,  aut  biseth^  ^^  Misce  auripigmentum  cum  azurio 
vel  indico,  aut  ocrum  cum  indico,  vel  viride^  et  erit 
bonum  vergaut ;  inde  de  bruno,  aut  di  nigro,  undabis ; 
auripigmentum  aut  de  biseth  matizabis/' 

The  only  information  to  be  collected  from  these  pafr* 
sages  is,  that  it  was  a  colour  which  served  for  heighten- 
ing the  others,  consequently  that  it  was  lighter  than 
they  were.  In  the  first  case,  it  was  used  for  the  lights 
of  a  red,  purple,  or  blue  drapery ;  in  the  second,  of  a 
red  drapery ;  in  the  third  and  fifth,  of  a  green  drapery ; 
and  in  the  fourth,  of  a  blue  drapery. 

These  passages,  therefore,  are  no  guide  to  the  colour; 
and  as  Eraclius  gives  directions  for  painting  changeable 
draperies  in  this  chapter,  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  that 
the  Kghts  should  be  of  the  same  colour  as  the  shades. 

The  next  notice  of  bisetus  is  in  the  Table  of  Sy- 
nonymes,'  where  it  is  described  as  being  less  red  than 
folium,  and  is  said  to  be  taken  from  that  portion  which 
swims  on  the  surface.  Le  Begue  adcb,  *^  I  believe  that 
this  term  is  applicable  in  the  same  sense  to  the  lighter  tint 
of  any  colour,  when  tempered  in  shells  (such  lighter  tint 
rising  to  the  surface),  after  the  colour  has  settled  a  little."' 

Merret,  in  his  notes  to  Neri's  '  Arte  Vetraria '  (cap. 
ex.),  mentionsbezettaasasynonymeof  turnsol,  ^'bezetta 
seu  tornasolis ;"  this,  it  will  be  observed,  agrees  with  the 
descriptionin theTableof Synonymes.  Inspeaking <^thi& 


1  P.  263.  «  p.  21. 

s  I  have  adopted  Mr.  Eastlake^s  translation.    See  '  Materials/  &c.,  p.  425. 


CHIP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  CXCV 

colour,  Merret  quotes  a  passage  from  the  *  Wormianum/ 
in  which  Woruiius  relates  that  a  piece  of  cloth  tinged 
with  a  bright  and  beautiful  red  colour  was  given  to  him 
by  Christopher  Herfert  (apothecary  to  Christian  V.), 
who  did  not  know  how  it  was  produced ;  that  it  ap- 
peared to  have  been  coloured  with  red  sandal  wood,  and 
w38  used  to  give  a  red  colour  to  food  in  the  same  way 
as  the  common  turnsol ;  •  but  that  it  was  far  superior  to 
it ;  that  it  was  fit  for  rouge,  and  had  this  peculiarity, 
that  it  communicated  its  colour  to  water,  and  with  some 
difficulty  to  wine,  but  not  to  spirit  of  wine.  From  this 
it  would  appear  that  Merret  considered  this  piece  of 
red  cloth  might  be  included  under  the  general  term 
bezsetta;  and  that  the  term  was  not  applicable  solely  to 
cloth  dyed  with  turnsole. 

My  opinion  is  strengthened  by  a  remark  of  Nemnich, 
who  says,^  that  cloths  dyed  with  the  juice  of  the  turnsol 
were  called  in  the  Levant  and  at  Venice  "  pezzette,'* 
and  not  ^'  bezzette,'*  as  it  is  usually  written.  An  eminent 
German  chemist  informed  me  that  in  the  laboratory  in 
Berlin,  where  he  studied  chemistry,  there  were  several 
old  boxes  marked  with  the  word  "bezzette,"  which 
contained  coloured  rags.  It  is  probable,  therefore, 
that  bisetus  or  biseth  is  a  Latin  term  for  bezzette, 
which  is  a  corruption  of  the  Italian  pezzette ;  and  that 
these  pezzette  might  be  of  different  colours;  hence 
the  opinion  expressed  by  Le  «Begue  in  the  Table  of 
Syaonymes  was  probably  correct  Whether  it  is 
practicable  to  obtain  two  tints  from  folium,  that  is  to 
say,  one  from  the  juice  itself  and  another  from  the  scum 
which  arises  on  it,  and  whether  this  lighter  tint  was  of 
a  pale  red  only,  or  sometimes  purple  or  blue,  can  only 
be  determined  by  experiment 

With  regard  to  the  use  of  bisetus  on  the  lights  in  the 
manner  mentioned  by  Eraclius,  it  must  be  observed, 

^  Poljrglotteii  Lexicon,  tit.  Croton  Tinctorium. 

n2 


axcvi  INTRODUCTION.  Lchap.vi. 

that  the  colour  with  which  the  rags  were  saturated 
being  transparent,  might  be  made  to  appear  as  light  as 
it  was  necessary,  by  being  much  diluted,  and  that  the 
strength  of  the  colour  would  depend  on  the  quantity 
of  water  with  which  it  was  mixed,  and  the  repetition 
of  the  colour. 

Palomino  mentions  a  colour  which  he  calls  ^^iir- 
chilla  ;'*  ^  he  states  that  it  is  of  a  morello  colour,  and 
known  only  to  a  few  persons ;  that  it  is  excellent  for 
illuminating  and  for  shading  sketches  (or  subjects  in 
chiaroscuro) ;  he  adds,  that  although  he  ^^ could  describe 
the  mode  of  preparation  from  the  juice  of  morello- 
coloured  lilies  and  alum,  it  was  not  his  intention  so  to 
do,  but  merely  tx)  mention  a  beautiful  transformation 
which  it  undergoes,  for  by  throwing  into  it  lemon-juice 
instead  of  water,  it  changes  its  colour  to  that  of  carmine 
or  dragon's  blood ;  so  that,  from  being  one  colour  only, 
it  becomes  two,  and  both  may  be  used  for  illuminating, 
for  miniatures,  and  for  sketches/'  It  is  unnecessary  to 
observe  that  if  this  colour  were  really  made  of  the  juice 
of  blue  lilies,  it  could  not  have  been  the  oricello  of  the 
Italians.  Pacheco  says'  that  in  illuminating,  blues  were 
shaded  with  this  colour. 

Bliie  Pigments. 

AzzuRRO. — By  this  term  the  early  Italian  painters 
appear  to  have  understood  Azzurro  della  Magna. 

Azzurro  della  Magna,  Azzurro  Todesco,  Azzurro 
Spagnuolo^  Azzurro  de  Anglia^  Azzurro  de  Lom- 
bardiay^  Lazursteiriy  Citramarinum. — I  have  stated 
my  opinion  (supported  by  what  appeared  to  ine 
satisfactory  evidence)  in  a  former  work,*  that  this 
German  azure  was  a   native  blue  ore  of  copper.     I 

1  Vol.  ii.  p.  343.  s  Tratado,  p.  354. 

>  Cennini  statec  (cap.  1x.)  that  Azzurro  della  Magna  wai  found  near 
Siena.  It  is  also  stated  to  be  produced  at  Striscia,  in  the  district  of  Vol- 
terra.    See  Ricett.  Fiorent.  «  Art  of  Fresco  Painting,  p.  zzztv.— li. 


CHAP.  TiJ  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  cxcvii 

have  since  ascertained  that  the  fact  has  been  settled 
beyond  a  doubt  by  Professor  Branchi  of  Pisa.*  This 
gentleman  analysed  a  portion  of  the  blue  pigment  from 
one  of  the  pictures  formerly  in  the  chapel  of  8.  Jacopo 
di  Pistoia.  For  this  purpose  he  poured  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  concentrated  sulphuric  acid  on  the  blue 
pigment,  which  he  afterwards  evaporated  to  dryness ; 
the  residue  then  being  dissolved  in  distilled  water,  gave 
a  blue  colour  with  ammonia,  and  a  bluish-green  precipi- 
tate with  carbonate  of  potash.  An  iron  knife-blade  being 
immersed  in  the  liquor,  metallic  copper  was  deposited 
on  it  The  Professor  also  obtained  the  same  results 
from  the  analyses  of  the  blue  pigments  of  other  ancient 
pictures,  especially  that  from  the  ground  of  the  very 
ancient  Madonna  in  the  Lunette  of  the  lateral  door  of 
the  Duomo  of  Pisa,  for  which,  as  appears  from  the 
account-roll  preserved  in  the  archives,  azzurro  d'Ale- 
magna  was  provided.  Dr.  A.  Fabroni,  of  Arezzo,  also 
analysed  a  portion  of  the  blue  colour  of  a  MS.  of  the 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century.  After  describing  * 
the  effects  of  different  chemical  re-agents  on  this  pig- 
ment, he  observes,  "  At  first  sight  this  colour  resembles 
ultramarine,  or  at  least  the  finest  smaltino.  Neverthe- 
less it  is  clearly  shown  by  analysis  to  be  an  oxide  of 
copper,  and  I  have  satisfied  myself  by  ocular  examina- 
tion, as  well  as  by  the  comparative  effects  of  re-agents, 
that  it  is  identical  with  our  biadetto  (cendre  bleue  of  the 
French),  although  it  is  much  deeper  in  colour.  It  is 
to  be  observed  that  I  have  seen  the  same  colour  on 
some  ancient  fresco  paintings  which  existed  in  the  sup- 
pressed monastery  of  S.S.  Flora  and  Lucilla  in  our 
city,  which  for  some  centuries  have  been  exposed  to  the 
injuries  of  the  air,  and  yet  the  colour  is  very  bright." 
Sig.  Fabroni  conjectured  that  the  colour  was  ^*  moun- 

'  Letten  di  Branchi,  &c.,  pp.  7,  8,  9. 

*  See  Ricerche  Chimiche  sopra  le  Miniature  di  un  Manuscritto,  pub- 
liihed  m  the  Acts  of  the  Soc.  of  Arts,  &c.,  of  Arezzo,  1843,  vol.  i.  p.  S. 


CXCViU  INTRODUCTION.  [cbap.  vi. 

tain  blue  heightened  by  some  acid  or  saline  preparation." 
But  it  appears  quite  possible  for  the  colour  to  have  been 
produced  by  the  indurated  blue  carbonate  of  copper, 
which  is  of  as  deep  and  fine  a  colour  as  ultramarine 
when  first  prepared  and  used,  although  it  differs  fi-om 
the  latter  in  being  more  easily  affected  by  re-agents, 
and  in  fact  by  being  generally  less  permanent  Professor 
Petrini  has  written  several  articles  in  the  *  Antologia '  * 
respecting  the  pigment  azzurro  della  magna.  In  one 
of  these,  dated  August,  1821,  after  mentioning  the 
experiments  of  Branchi  on  the  old  pictures  in  S.  Jacopo 
di  Pistoia,  he  says,  "  the  same  experiments  have  been 
tried  with  similar  success  on  a  great  number  of  pictures  of 
the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  whence  it  appears 
that  the  painters  of  that  period  knew  no  other  mineral 
azures  than  ultramarine  and  azzurro  della  magna.** 

De  Boot '  distinguishes  two  kinds  of  azure,  that  which 
was  fixed  in  the  iire,  and  that  which  was  not  fixed.  The 
former  was  the  real  ultramarine,  which  was  always 
brought  firom  the  East ;  the  latter  was  found  m  Ger- 
many, and  was  commonly  called  lazurstein^  and  this,  he 
observes,  "  occupies  a  mean  place  between  the  Arme- 
nian stone,  which  is  friable,  and  the  lapis  lazuli,  which 
it  resembles  in  hardness.  The  colour  prepared  fit)m 
the  lazurstein  is  called  asurhla%  but  many  painters  do 
not  distinguish  between  this  mineral  and  the  Armenian 
stone,  which  they  confound  together,  because  the  colours 
extracted  from  both  are  alike.  Nevertheless,  the  stones 
differ  in  hardness,  and  the  colour  prepared  from  that 
which  is  not  fixed  in  the  fire  is  generally  more  beau- 
tiful than  that  prepared  from  the  Armenian  stone.  I 
possess  colours  prepared  by  my  own  hand,  which  are  so 
fine  that  they  bear  comparison  with  ultramarine.'* 

The  above  description,  as  well  as  those  of  Cennini  * 

^  Published  at  Florence, 
s  Le  parfaict  Joaillier,  p.  351.  >  Trattato,  cap.  Ix. 


CHAF.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  cxcix 

and  the  Bolognese  MS./  corresponds  with  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  indurated  native  blue  carbonate  of 
cq>per.  The  difficulty  of  distinguishing  between  these 
two  minerals  has  always  been  felt,  and  there  appears 
to  be  no  test  but  that  of  fire,  which  was  known  at  a 
very  early  period." 

The  mode  of  preparing  this  mineral  as  a  pigment  is 
described  by  Cennini,  and  in  the  Bolognese  MS.' 
Having  shown  that  the  blue  pigment  in  several  old 
paintings,  both  mural  and  on  miniatures,  has  been  ascer- 
tained to  be  copper,  I  shall  now  give  a  few  extracts 
from  documents,  proving  that  it  was  used  on  pictures 
also.  The  stipulation  in  the  contract  to  use  azzurro 
della  magna  must  be  considered  evidence  of  the  esteem 
in  which  it  was  held. 

**  1453, 10  August Padua. 

''  Agreement  made  between  the  monastery  of  Sta.  Giustina  and 
me,  Andrea  Mantegna,  painter,  relative  to  the  painting  of  an  altar- 
piece  to  be  placed  over  the  altar  of  S.  Luca  in  the  church  of  Sta. 
Giustina,  by  which  I,  Andrea  Mantegna,  agree  to  paint  all  the 
figures  at  my  own  expense,  including  the  colours,  for  the  price  of 
50  ducats  in  Venetian  gold,  and  to  inlay  with  azzurro  Todesco  all 
the  carvings  and  ornaments  of  the  said  altar-piece,"  &c.^ 

This  picture,  observes  Moschini  in  1826,  is  now 
fresh  and  intact  at  Milan.  On  my  second  visit  to 
Milan,  Conte  Pompeo  Litta  obligingly  procured  me  an 
order,  which  enabled  me  to  obtain  a  private  view  of 
this  picture  (which,  with  many  others,  had  been  removed 

1  P.  343.  Both  kinds  of  carbonate  of  copper  appear  to  be  described  in 
this  chapter.  *  See  pp.  247,  841 ,  386.  >  P.  365. 

4  •<  1453,  adi  10  Agocto Padonu 

'*  PatiM  coa  el  Moaastero  di  Sta.  Giustina  e  mi  Andrea  Mantegna  pen- 
tor  cerca  el  penger  de  una  so  pala  da  altare  da  esaer  mesa  a  Pal  tar  de  San 
Luca  in  la  dita  Gesia  di  Sta.  Giustina  soe  de  depenger  tutte  le  figure  a  mie 
ipeie  e  cdlori  per  prezio  de  ducati  cinquanta  doro  veniciani  con  qoesto  che 
debo  campixar  daauro  todeseo  tuti  li  intagi  e  adomamenti  de  la  dita  pala," 
&c.  Copied  from  the  original  contract  in  the  possession  of  the  Conte 
Francesco  de'  Lazara,  at  Padua.  The  contract  has  been  published  by  Mos- 
chini in  his  work  entitled  <  Dell'  Origine  e  delle  Yicende  della  Pittura  in 
FadoTa,'  p.  34  n. 


CC  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

from  the  gallery  of  Brera,  for  the  puqwse  of  re-laying 
the  floors).  The  picture  is  divided  into  twelve  com- 
partments, separated  by  columns.  In  the  centre  is  an 
evangelist,  and  in  the  other  compartments  are  saints ; 
those  in  the  upper  row  are  half-figures,  while  those  in 
the  lower  are  whole  lengths.  The  figures  are  painted 
on  gold  grounds,  and  there  are  several  dark-blue 
draperies,  but  the  blue  has  turned  black.  All  the  colours 
appear  to  have  darkened,  except  the  lakes,  which  are  as 
good  as  ever.  The  carvings  and  ornaments  inlaid  with 
blue  are  no  longer  with  the  picture.  Andrea  Mantegna 
was  in  his  22nd  year  when  he  painted  this  altar-piece. 

By  a  contract,  dated  22nd  February,  1474,  Giacomo 
Filipo,  a  painter  of  Ferrara,  agreed  with  Fra  Ludovico 
da  Forll,  Prior  of  the  old  Church  of  S.  Salvatore  at 
Bologna,  to  paint  certain  pictures,  "de  boni  coluria 
modo  stia  bene,"  on  a  ground  of  "  azuro  todesco,"  of 
the  price  of  10  bolognini  the  ounce.^ 

In  the  documents  respecting  the  celebrated  altar- 
piece  by  Fra  Marco  Pensaben  at  Treviso,  published  in 
the  *  Meniorie  Trevigiane,*  a  blue  colour,  which  firom 
its  price  could  not  have  been  ultramarine,  is  mentioned 
in  the  following  terms: — "1521,  13:  Ott.  Dati  per 
oncie  10  e  mezza  d'azzurro,  a  lire  tre  Tonza." 

Azzurro  di  Terra^  Azzurro  di  Spagna,  Biadetto, 
Cenere  Azzurre^  Ceneretta,  la  CendrSe^  Cendres  bleues, 
Cenizas  azuks^  Bleu  de  Montague^  Bice,  Terra  biaua, 
Sanders  blue,  Ongaro,  Bleu  minerale^  Turchino^Berglblau, 
— A  blue  pigment,  prepared  from  carbonate  of  copper, 
has  been  known  to  artists  under  the  above  names  from 
a  very  early  period.  It  appears  to  have  been  of  a 
paler  colour  than  the  pigment  called  azzurro  della 
magna,'  and  in  fact  not  to  have  exceeded  in  depth  of 
colour  the  blue  of  the  sky.  It  is  probable  that  the 
azzurro  di  terra  was  produced  from  the   earthy  blue 

1  Gualandi,  Memorie  di  Belle  Arti,  Ser.  iv.  p.  91. 
s  See  CanepariuB,  p.  360. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOUKS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  CCl 

carbonate  of  copper;  but  when  the  latter  was  of  a 
bluish-green  colour  it  was  employed  for  preparing  the 
pigment  called  verde  azzurro. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  following  MSS^  that  arti- 
ficial blue  pigments  prepared  from  copper  were  common 
at  an  early  period.  As  these  azures  were  easily  and 
cheaply  made,  and  as  they  were,  when  freshly  pre- 
pared, but  little  inferior  in  colour  to  the  natural  pig- 
ments, they  found  a  ready  sale,  and  were  not  easily 
distinguishable  from  the  native  pigments;  indeed  it 
appears  from  more  than  one  writer  of  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  that  it  was  not  generally 
known  whether  "  cenere  azzurre  '*  were  natural  or  arti- 
ficial productions.  The  author  of  the  ^  Trattato  di 
Miniatura '  remarks  (p.  52),  "  It  is  not  known  exactly 
what  the  *  cenere  azzurre '  of  England  really  are,  or 
how  they  are  made.  They  are  brought  from  Dantzic 
by  the  English  and  Dutch,  who  export  them  to  France 
and  other  places,  whence  they  are  called  ^cenere 
d'Inghilterra.'  **  Pierre  Pomet  says  '  that  "  cendre 
bleue "  is  a  composition,  or  pulverized  stone,  brought 
from  England  or  Rouen,  whence  it  is  imported  into 
France  by  the  Swedes,  Hamburghers,  and  Danes. 
Notwithstanding  the  diligent  inquiries  I  have  made,  I 
have  found  it  impossible  to  ascertain  the  nature  of  the 
"cendre  bleue :"  some  tell  me  it  is  a  composition  made 
at  Rouen;  but  as  those  who  make  it  keep  it  a  secret, 
I  could  not  learn  how  it  is  made.  The  author  of  the 
'  Traits  de  la  Peinture  au  Pastel '  appears  to  have  been 
better  informed ;  he  says,  ^^  a  regard  de  la  cendre  bleue, 
c'est  une  terre  charg^e  d'une  certaine  quantity  de 
chaux  min^rale  de  cuivre ;  le  ton  de  ce  mineral  est  d'un 
bleu  naissant  tres  agr^able.'* 

It  is   almost  unnecessary  to  observe   that  sanders 
blue  is  a  corruption  of  "  cendre  bleue." 

A  blue  pigment  prepared  from  the   native  ore  of 

i  Hist.  G^i^rale  des  Drogues,  vol.  ii.  p.  S85. 


ccii  INTKODUCTION.  [chap,  vl 

eopper  was  in  vuae  in  Italy  at  the  tinie  .of  Lomazzo 
under  the  name  df  "  Ongaro.**^  This  is  the  pigmest 
which,  it  is  stated  on  the  authority  of  Pacheco,  Michael 
Cocde  obtained  from  Titian  for  the  purpose  of  painting 
the  mantle  of  the  Virgin  in  the  copy  he  was  mddng  of 
the  celebrated  altar-piece  of  the  Van  Eycks  at  Ghent' 
Oflgaro  is  mentioned  in  the  Paduan  MS. 

Biadetto. — This  term,  which  occurs  so  frecpiendy  in 
technical  works  on  painting,  has  been  applied  bodi  to 
the  native  and  to  the  artificial  pigment  prepared  from 
copper.  There  is  no  doubt  that  at  an  early  period  of 
art  the  natural  pigment  (which  was  of  a  much  finer 
colour  than  the  factitious)  was  much  used.'  Mr.  East- 
lake  ^  has  discoTcred  the  true  derivation  of  the  term 
<«  biadetto  *'  in  the  *  Bladetus  de  Inde '  of  the  Venetian 
MS.,  which  is  identified  by  De  Mayerne  with  "la 
cendr^e,*'  and  beie  or  hioe.  ^  La  cendr^e"  is  described 
to  be  ^  made  of  the  blue  stone  which  comes  .fixmi  India, 
and  which  is  found  in  silver  mines.** 

The  ^'azzurro  di  biadetti'*  of  Borghini  jand  Baldi- 
nucci  was  the  artificial  pigment.  The  native  mineral 
pigment  is  mentioned  under  the  term  aczurro  di  vena 
naturale,  and  both  these  are  distinguished  from  asBEurro 
della  magna.  The  biadetto  now  sold  in  Italy  is  the 
artificial  pigment  which  is  imported  from  England ;  but  I 
could  not  ascertain  the  commercial  name.  The  modem 
biadetto  is  described  in  the  '  Secreti  '  of  Fra  Fortuoaio 
to  be  composed  of  verdigris,  sal-ammoniac,  and  tartar. 

The  name  .turchino  is  stated  to  have  been  applied 
to  this  class  of  pigments  in  confsequence  of  their  being 
imported  at  one  time  into  Italy  in  lai^e  quantities  by  the 
Turks  ;^  others  trace  the  name  to  the  resemblance  of  Ae 
colour  of  the  pigment  to  the  blue  stone  called  turquoise, 
A  mineral  which  also  owes  its  colour  to  oopper. 

i  See Tratteto,  p.  1 91 .      'See  Pacheoo, p.  S73.       >  Lettera di Bra&chi. 
*  Materials,  &c.,  p.  121.  *  See  Oiampi,  Notizie,  &c.,  p.  57. 


CHAF.Tt]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  JCCUl 

A  modern  blue  pigment,  known  under  the  name  of 
copper^  mountain,  English^  Harribro^  lime,  hissler^ 
mineral,  and  Neuwieder  blue,  is  prepared  from  carbo- 
nate of  copper,  with  hydrated  oxide  of  copper  and  lime. 
"  It  is  obtained  by  a  particular  process  (which  at  pre- 
sent is  kept  in  part  secret),  by  decomposing  subchloride 
of  copper  by  a  solution  of  caustic  potash,  and  afterwards 
mixing  the  mass  with  caustic  lime,  and  exposing  the 
mixtore  for  some  time  to  the  air.  When  tiie  greenish- 
blue  colour  has  become  a  pure  blue,  the  mass  is  dried 
and  ground  into  a  rather  coarse,  crumbling,  or  dust-like 
powder*  The  darker  sorts  contain  only  a  small  per^ 
centage  of  quick  lime ;  but  the  lighter  sorts,  on  the  con- 
trary, from  20  to  70  per  cent.  Mountain  blue  is  used 
as  a  lime  colour,  but  chiefly  for  colouring  rooms,  on 
aceonnt  of  its  unchangeability  on  lime  grounds ;  some- 
times as  enamel  colour  instead  of  oxide  of  copper/'  ^ 

Although  Boschini  affirms  that  biadetto  was  one  of 
those  colours  which  the  Venetians  ^^  abhorred  like  the 
plague,'*  there  is  evidence  to  show  that  blue  pigments 
from  copper  were  used  by  Venetian  painters.  The  ' 
fact  of  Titian  having  in  his  possession  some  of  the 
eolonr  called  ^^ongaro*'  has  been  already  mentioned. 
Paolo  Veronese  is  stated  by  Signer  Fietro  Edwards 
to  have  employed  ^  a  certain  mineral  azure  which  is  no 
longer  in  use;"  and  Paolo's  well-known  practice  of  mix- 
ing his  blues  with  size  may  be  considered  a  confirmation 
of  this  assertion,  since  the  copper  blues  if  used  with  oil 
Were  certain  to  change.  A  Venetian  artist,  whose 
family  have  always  been  painters,  and  who  doubtless 
possesses  much  traditionary  knowledge,  also  stated  that 
the  Venetians  used  a  "  terra  azzurra "  *  which  is  now 
lost ;  but  he  added,  that  on  analysis  biadetto  had  been 
found  on  the  pictures  of  Tintoretto  only.     The  *  Tarifla' 


^  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  vol.  vi.  p.  82. 

«  Caneparius  dso  mentions  (p.  360,  362)  a  "  terra  ccrulca. 


CCIV.  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ti. 

of  Zuane  Mariana  proves  that  a  terra  biaua  was  in 
1567  imported  into  Venice  in  such  quantities  as  to  be 
sold  by  the  peso  grosso;  and  when  we  consider  the 
immense  quantity  of  blue  found  on  the  paintings  of  the 
Venetian  school,  we  are  obliged  to  conclude  either  that 
ultramarine  was  much  more  plentiful  than  it  is  at 
present,  or  that  some  other  blue  pigment  has  been 
used.  To  the  above  instances  must  be  added  the 
opinion  current  in  Venice  that  biadetto  is  the  pigment 
which  best  matches  the  blue  found  in  Venetian  pictures. 

The  use  of  blue  pigments  from  copper  appears  to 
have  prevailed  in  other  schools  of  the  North  of  Italy. 
I  was  informed  at  Milan  that  the  blue  in  the  drapery 
of  the  Virgin  in  the  St.  Jerome  of  Correggio,  at  Parma, 
was  painted  with  biadetto.  It  appears  that  either 
biadetto  or  azzurro  della  magna  was  used  by  Lionardo 
da  Vinci,  since  there  are  the  following  entries  iix  his 
MS.  book  of  drawings  in  the  Ambrogianar  Library  at 
Milan :  ^^  di  spesa  tra  azurro,  oro,  biaca,  giesso,  indacfio, 
et  choUa ;  lire  3  .  . . .  fra  smalto,  azurro,  e  altri  colori, 
lire  1  if,  fra  azurro  e  oro,  lire  3^,  un'  oncia  d'azuro,  soldi 
10."  Here  we  have  the  exact  price  of  the  "azuro,** 
which  could  not  have  been  ultramarine,  and  which 
appears  to  have  been  too  cheap  for  azzurro  della  magna.^ 

With  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  these  pigments 
were  employed — in  the  first  place  it  is  clear  that  they 
cannot  be  used  with  oil  without  turning  green.'  It  is 
true  that  Borghini,  Baldinucci,  and  Lomazzo  state  that 
they  may  be  used  with  oil ;  but  Bisagno  remarks  "  la 
ceneretta  is  but  little  adapted  for  painting  skies,  be- 
cause it  becomes  green  in  time  :"  and  the  author  of  the 
*  Traite  de  la  Peinture  au  Pastel  *  observes  ^that  cendres 
bleues  mi^ht  be  employed  in  tempera  painting  and  in 

1  The  price  of  this  pigment  at  Florence,  in  1469,  was  3  great  florins  the 
oz. ;  see  a  letter  from  Benozzo  Gozzoli  in  the  Carteggio  Inedito,  vol.  i. 
p.  193.  The  author  of  the  Bol.  MS.  states  that  azzurro  delia  magna  was 
sold  from  10  to  30  bolognini  the  oz. 

*  See  Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  52. 


CHAP.  TL]  COLOURS  USE©  IN  PAINTING.  CCV 

unimportant  works,  that  cupreous  earths  might  be  used 
for  peirUurage  (by  which  he  probably  meant  common 
decorative  effects),  but  never  for  painting,  even  in  fresco. 

Paolo  Veronese  is  stated  to  have  generally  painted 
the  blues  in  his  pictures  with  size ;  Signor  Pietro  Ed- 
wards mentions  ^  that  in  the  picture  by  Paolo  in  the  ceil- 
ing of  the  CoUegio  in  the  Ducal  Palace  at  Venice,  the 
blue  sky  was  painted  in  tempera,  and  the  clouds  with  oil. 

As  the  grounds  employed  by  Paolo  consisted  gene- 
rally of  a  thin  coating  of  glue  and  gesso  only,  no  prepa- 
ration was  necessary  before  applying  the  blue  of  the  sky 
with  size.  But  when  the  blue  was  required  to  be  laid 
upon  oil  colours,  it  was  necessary  to  apply  a  thin  coat 
of  varnish,  or  to  rub  the  surface  with  juice  of  garlic.^ 
The  colour  was  afterwards  varnished.  Fra  Fortunato 
of  Rovigo  states,  that  to  prepare  biadetto  for  miniature 
painting,  so  that  it  should  spread  well,  it  should  be 
ground  with  burnt  roche  alum,  or  with  a  little  tartar  or 
sandarac.  He  adds,  biadetto  should  be  ground  very 
fine,  and  used  with  varnish  made  of  spirit  of  turpentine 
and  clear  mastic ;  it  will  then  spread  well,  glaze  bril- 
liantly, and  be  of  a  beautiful  colour.  Blue  was  some- 
times applied  in  powder.  De  Boot  mentions'  that 
''on  account  of  the  excessive  price  of  ultramarine, 
painters  were  accustomed  to  dead  colour  the  parts  of 
their  pictures  intended  to  be  blue  with  Armenian  stone, 
or  a  blue  glass  called  smalt,  to  which  white  was  added 
for  the  lights.  When  this  preparation  was  quite  dry, 
ultramarine,  mixed  with  nut  oil  and  spirit  of  turpentine, 
or  varnish,  was  glazed  over  it  By  this  means  the 
colours  spread  beneath,  as  if  under  a  glass,  became 
brilliant  and  splendid,  borrowing  through  this  veil  from 
the  ultramarine,  not  only  beauty  but  durability;    so 

*  In  a  document  addressed  to  Sig.  Savio  Cassiery  dated  the  25th  of  Aug., 
1780,  and  now  preserved  in  the  Academy  at  Venice,  where  I  saw  it. 

*  See  Mr.  £astlake*s  *  Materials,'  &c.,  p.  455. 

*  Le  parfaict  Joaillier,  &c.,  p.  872. 


eCVl  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  Tt 

that  in  two  hundred  years  they  lost  but  little  of  their 
brightness  and  beauty."  Yolpato  directs  ^  that  azzurro 
di  Spagna  should  be  tempered  as  firmly  as  possible 
with  nut  oil)  and  that  it  should  be  made  to  flow  with 
8{Mrit  of  turpentine. 

Bisagno  remarks  that  ceneretta  must  not  be  mixed 
with  smaltino,  because  tiiese  colours  are  inimical  to 
each  other,*  and  Constant  de  Massoul '  makes  the  same 
remark  with  regard  to  cendre  bleue  and  orf»ment 

There  is  one  peculiarity  attending  the  blue  pigments 
in  Italian  pictures,  which  was  first  pointed  out  to  me  by 
a  Milanese  artist,  and  this  is  that  the  blues  invariably 
are  raised  above  the  surface  of  the  other  colours,  and 
that  in  some  cases  (and  he  particularly  instanced 
Correggio's  S.  Jerome  at  Parma)  they  stand  up  as  high 
as  a  five  franc  piece  above  the  canvass.  I  have  myself 
seen  them  on  some  pictures  raised  to  the  height  of  an 
English  shilling.  This  artist  ascribed  the  effect  to  the 
difficulty  of  using  the  blue,  and  to  the  necessity  of 
repeating  the  colour  several  times. 

Pacheco's  method  of  using  blue  pigments  has  been 
described  briefly  by  Mr.  Eastlake/ 

Smalto  and  Smaltini,  Email,  Azur  h  potidrer. — 
There  were  two  kinds  of  pigment  of  this  name,  one  of 
which  was  a  preparation  of  zaffire,  the  other  was  a  glass 
composed  of  sand,  nitre,  and  copper  filings.  The  latter 
is  the  Vestorian  azure  described  by  Vitmvius,  which 
was  called  also  azzurro  di  Pozzuoli.  It  was  chiefly 
used  in  fresco  painting.*  The  smalto  made  at  Venice 
in  the  time  of  Caneparius^  seems  to  have  been  of  the 
latter  kind,  since  this  author  describes  the  first  under 
the  term  zaphara. 

1  P.  747.  '  Pacheco,  howeYer,  recommends  that  ami  de 

Santo  Domingo  should  be  shaded  with  good  smalti.    Tratado,  p.  891. 

»  Art  of  Painting,  p.  176. 

4  Materials,  &c.,  p.  431  ,*  and  see  Pacheco,  p.  361. 

ft  See  translations  of  Vitnivius  by  Orsini,  published  in  1822 ;  and  by  Gal- 
liani,  published  at  Naples  in  1768. 


CHAP.  ▼!.]  COLOUBS  USBa>  IN  PAINTING.  CCVU 

It  is  not  always  easy  to  decide  which  pigment  is 
intended  when  these  terms  are  employed,  for  there  is 
evidence  that  they  were  both  in  use  at  the  same  time 
m  Italy.  Lomiuszo  mentions  ^'  gli  smalti,  come  quello 
di  Fiandra  che  d  il  migliore  de  gV  altri  tutti ;"  from  the 
kst  words  it  might  almost  be  inferred  that  other  vitri- 
fied pigments  of  this  kind  were  known,  besides  the  two 
aboYe-mentioBed.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  ^^  smalto 
di  Fiandra  **  waa  zaffre^  and  that  it  was  very  similar  to 
the  pigment  we  now  call  ^'  smalt"  The  smaltino  of 
the  ^  Abecedario '  was  also  a  preparation  of  zaffire. 

One  kind  of  azzur ro  di  smalto  only  is  mentioned  by 
Borghini;^  this  he  states  was  composed  of  glass,  and 
was  used  in  fresco,  in  tempera,  and  in  oil. 

Lionardi  da  Vinci  n>entions  ^  smalto "'  among  the 
colours  provided  for  the  decoration  of  the  apartments 
in  the  castle  in  which  Lodovico  il  Moro  resided  ;'  but 
at  tiie  period  when  these  paintings  were  executed 
(1492),  it  is  scarcely  probable  that  zaffire  was  known  in 
Italy.  In  the  absence,  therefore,  of  evidence  to  the 
eontrary,  we  must  believe  that  the  smalto  mentioned 
by  him  was  of  the  same  nature  as  the  smaltino  used  by 
his  contemporary  Pietro  Perugino  for  the  mantle  of  the 
Virgin  in  his  picture  at  Montone.  Baldassare  Orsini 
states  that  the  smaltino  in  this  picture  was  painted  in 
distemper  on  a  ground  of  black;  and  to  modify  the 
brightness  of  this  blue  Pietro  had  stippled  the  whole 
drapery  with  lake.  With  regard  to  the  composition  of 
the  smaltino,  Orsini  states  that  he  had  analysed  this 
colour,  and  had  found  that  it  was  a  vitrified  pigment 
like  that  described  by  Vitruvius  in  powder^  and  that  it 
was  tempered  with  flour  paste.' 

Smaltino  appears  also  to  have  been  occasionally  em- 
ployed in  oil-paintings,  as  we  learn  from  Borghini,  and 
from  Bisagno;  the  latter  says  it  should  not  be  mixed 

1  Bipoto,  p.  178.         *  Amorettiy  Memorie  Storicbe  di  L.  da  Vinci,  p.  38. 
'  Elogio  e  Memorie  di  Pietro  Perugino,  p.  208,  and  n. 


CCViil  INTRODUCTION.  [chap,  tl 

with  ^^  ceneretta,"  and  that  for  painting  skies  it  should 
be  mixed  with  white  lead,  and  tempered  with  nut  oil. 
This  pigment  is  called  "  cenUee  "  in  the  Brussels  MS.^ 
Lebrun  states  *  that  very  beautiful  blue  draperies  are 
made  with  "  azur  a  poudrer  '*  (smalt)  :'  they  must  be 
first  painted  with  black  and  white,  the  lights  being 
bright  (that  is  to  say,  very  white),  and  the  shades  being 
very  dark,  and  then  sprinkled  with  "  azur  a  poudrer." 
Mr.  Eastlake  gives  ^  several  instances  of  blue  being 
painted  in  this  manner.  Christophe  Ballard  recom- 
mends ^  that  email  (smalt)  should  be  mixed  with  oil 
of  turpentine,  in  order  that  it  may  dry  and  not  flow, 
email,  he  states,  "  being  very  diflScult  to  use ;  for  if  it  be 
made  too  liquid  it  will  flow ;  and  if  too  thick  and  firm 
you  will  not  be  able  to  use  it;  but  by  mixing  it  with 
spirit  of  turpentine  it  may  be  easily  used ;  for  the  oil  of 
turpentine  evaporates  in  the  air."  This  author  gives 
the  following  directions  for  preventing  the  colour  from 
flowing  (qu'elle  ne  coule) : — "  When  you  have  painted 
your  drapery,  you  will  place  your  picture  upon  the 
ground,  or  upon  a  table;  then  you  will  take  some 
crumpled  paper,  such  as  the  grey  paper  used  by  mer- 
chants, tear  it  into  small  pieces,  and  let  it  fall  upon 
your  work.  The  paper  will  absorb  all  the  oil;  and 
when  the  blue  is  nearly  dry,  and,  as  we  say,  *  embu,' 
even  although  it  should  not  be  quite  dry,  the  paper  will 
prevent  the  colour  from  flowing.  To  remove  the 
paper,  you  must  strike  the  picture  upon  a  corner,  and 
all  the  paper  will  fall  ofi^:  and  note,  diat  you  must  not 
suffer  it  to  dry,  or  you  will  not  be  able  to  remove  the 
paper ;  neither  must  the  pieces  of  paper  be  too  large,  or 
they  will  mark  the  drapery •**• 


1P.S04.  *«P.  821. 

s  Pierre  Pomet,  HUt.  des  Drogues,  vol.  i.  p.  192,  193. 
«  Materials,  &c.,  p.  431,  456.         »  Traill  de  Mignature,  p.  216,  217. 
•  For  other  methods  of  using  smalt,  see  also  Mr.  Eastlake*s  *  Materials,' 
&c.,  p.  427—432. 


cHAF.viJ  COLOUBS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  ccix 

In  1676,  ^^  the  finest  ground  smalt  that  ever  came  into 
England  "  was  valued  at  8^.  a  pound.^ 

The  early  history  of  cobalt  and  zaffi*e  is  involved  in 
so  much  obscurity,  and  the  evidence  respecting  it 
appears  so  conflicting,  that  it  is  considered  useless  to 
enter  into  the  subject  in  the  present  work.^  The  same 
remark  applies  to  the  zaffirro  of  the  middle  ages,  which, 
although  it  decidedly  signifies  in  some  cases  ultra- 
marine, or  lapis  lazuli,  is  yet  used  so  vaguely  that  it 
cannot  be  understood  to  be  limited  to  this  substance 
only.  The  difficulty  of  coming  to  any  decision  on  this 
subject  may  be  estimated  by  the  consideration  that  the 
term  zafirro,  saffiro,  or  saphiro,  was  used  to  denote  a 
precious  stone  of  a  blue  colour  as  well  as  a  blue  mineral, 
which  from  its  description  must  be  lapis  lazuli;  that 
zaffera,  saphra,  or  zaffire  was  a  blue  pigment  prepared 
irom  cobalt,  which  is  now  known  by  the  name  of  smalt, 
and  that  safar  is  the  Moorish  name  for  copper.'  So 
little  variation  is  there  between  the  terms  used  to  de- 
signate the  three  minerals  from  which  the  principal  blue 
pigments  are  made. 

Various  kinds  of  artificial  mineral  azures  were  em- 
ployed in  Italy ;  many  of  these  are  described  in  the 
Bolognese  MS.  (cap.  ii.).  The  pigment  described  at 
p.  388  is  represented  to  be  better  than  azzurro  della 
magna,  and  in  appearance  and  colour  to  be  equal  to 
ultramarine.  Another  of  these  azures  is  stated  to  be 
worth  four  ducats  the  pound ;  ^  and  a  third,  five  gold 

1  Wa]pole*8  Anecdotes,  voL  iii.  p.  137. 

*  It  may  be  observed  here  that  the  Egyptians  were  acquainted  with 
cobalt,  bat  they  used  it  only  (or  colouring  glass.  The  small  blue  figurines 
are  ooloored  with  copper,  and  neither  M.  Laurent,  M.  Malaguti,  nor  M. 
Salvetat,  hare  been  able  to  detect  any  cobalt  in  them.  See  De  Brongniart, 
Traits  des  Arts  C^ramiques,  p.  658,  563.  The  experiments  of  Prof.  John, 
of  Berlm,  prove  that  the  blups  in  the  Egyptian  paintings  were  oxides  of 
copper,  with  a  small  intermixture  of  iron,  and  that  none  of  them  contain 
cobslt  See  '  The  Epochs  of  Paindng  characterised :  a  Sketch  of  the  Hisi. 
tory  of  Pointing,  Ancient  and  Modem,'  by  Mr.  Womum. 

>  See  Mr.  Ford's  Hand-book  for  Spain,  p.  128.  <  P.  391. 

VOL.  I.  O 


CCX  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  yi. 

ducats  the  pound/  Borghini  describes  ^  several  of  these 
artificial  azures.  But  of  all  the  pigments  of  this  class 
there  is  none  which  is  mentioned  so  frequently  by  all 
writers  on  colours  as  the  azure  said  to  be  prepared  from 
silver.'  Yet,  in  spite  of  the  most  diligent  inquiry,  I  have 
been  unable  to  ascertain  that  any  salt  of  silver  is"^  ca- 
pable of  producing  a  blue  colour.  It  is  probable  that  the 
composition  of  such  a  pigment  may  have  been  suggested 
by  the  known  fact,  that  the  old  bladetus  de  Inde  before 
mentioned  was  found  in  silver  mines ;  and  it  is  very 
probable  that  the  medieval  artists  attributed  to  silver 
the  blue  colour  which  was  actually  owing  to  the  copper 
with  which  the  silver  was  mixed.  Whenever  a  blue 
colour  was  really  produced  from  the  solution  of  silver 
plates  in  acetic  acid,  it  may  be  concluded  that  the 
colour  was  produced  by  the  solution  of  the  copper  with 
which  the  silver  was  sdloyed ;  and  there  appears  to  be 
no  evidence  to  support  the  assertion  found  in  some 
medieval  MSS.,  that  a  blue  colour  could  be  produced 
from  pure  silver.  The  blue  pigment  composed  of  sul- 
phur, mercury,  and  sal  ammoniac,  has  been  called 
Venetian  azure.* 

Bleu  Minerale. — There  is  some  doubt  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  pigment  known  in  Italy  by  this  name. 
Some  persons  consider  it  the  same  as  turchino;  and 
it  seems  a  pigment  prepared  from  copper  and  lime  is 
still  sold  under  this  name.  Other  persons  state  that  it 
was  a  preparation  of  cobalt,  and  was  brought  from  Ger- 
many. In  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  ^  it  is  stated  to 
be  a  cyanide  of  iron,  produced  by  mixing  a  solution  of 
sulphate  of  iron  with  prussiate  of  potash,  and  carefully 
heating  the  light  precipitate,  which  is  formed  with  nitric 
acid,  till  it  assumes  a  deep  blue  colour.  The  white 
substances  used  for  the  finer  sorts  are  alumina,  gypsum, 

1  P.  403.  »  RipofiO,  p.  178. 

3  Le  Bcgue,  p.  47, 49.    Bol.  MS.,  p.  896, 899.    Tbeoph.,  £.  ed.,  p.  422. 

^  See  recipes  at  the  end  of  the  Abecedario  Pittorico.         *  Vol.  yi.  p.  82. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  ccxi 

and  heavy  spar ;  for  the  more  common  sorts,  starch  or 
clay.  The  same  author  also  mentions  that  Prussian 
blue  mixed  with  the  oxide  of  zinc,  was  formerly  sold 
under  the  name  of  bleu  minerale.^ 

Ultramarine^  Azur  d^Acre. — ^The  exact  period  when 
this  fine  pigment  was  introduced  is  not  yet  determined. 
There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  real  lapis  lazuli 
from  Tartary  was  known  in  the  thirteenth  century,  since 
it  is  mentioned  in  the  work  of  Yousouf  Jeifaschy,  who 
appears  to  have  been  a  jeweller  of  Cairo.*  The  term 
ultramarine  must  have  been  common  in  Italy  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  since  it  occurs  in 
the  Italian  MS.  of  Johannes  de  Modena,^  and  in  the 
recipe  given  by  Michelino  de  Vesuccio  to  Alcherius, 
both  of  which  were  copied  in  1410.  In  some  MSS.  it 
is  called  *'  azurrum  transmarinum,"  in  contradistinction 
to  azzurro  della  magna,  which  was  called  azzurrum 
citramarinum.^  Ultramarine  has  always  been  occasion- 
ally used  by  the  Italian  painters,  and  so  much  was  it 
esteemed  that  it  was  frequently  the  subject  of  a  parti- 
cular stipulation  in  contracts.  It  was  generally  sup- 
plied by  the  person  who  ordered  the  picture,  but  in 
some  cases  the  artist  himself  agreed  to  employ  it.  Thus 
in  1501,  Aloese  Vivarino  di  Murano  agreed  to  use 
ultramarine  in  his  picture  painted  for  the  guardistns  of 
the  Scuola  della  Carita,*  It  was  employed  by  Paolo 
Veronese  in  the  "  Nozze  di  Cana ;"  ^  by  Leandro  Bas- 
sano,  in  his  picture  of  the  Battle  of  the  good  Angels 
with  Lucifer,  and  in  that  of  Sta,  Lucia,  painted  for  the 
church  of  S.  Giorgio  Maggiore  at  Venice  ; '  by  Pietro 

1  See  Traits  de  la  Peintare  au  Pastel,  where  this  colour  is  said  not  to 
have  been  affected  by  the  strongest  vapours  of  liver  of  sulphur  in  efferves- 
cence with  the  mineral  acids. 

«  Depping,  Hist,  du  Commerce,  vol.  i.  p.  147.  »  P.  96,  102. 

«P.348andn. 

>  For  this  notice,  extracted  from  the  Venetian  archives,  I  am  indebted 
to  the  Abbate  Cadorin,  the  biographer  of  Titian. 

•  Iscriz.  Venct.,  vol.  iv.  p.  253.  '  Ibid.,  p.  849,  362. 

o2 


ccxn  INTRODUCTION-  Ichap.vi. 

Penigino,  for  his  picture  in  the  Duomo  of  Orvieto  ;^  by 
Palma  Giovane,  for  the  pictures  he  painted  in  S.  Nicolo 
at  Treviso,  in  1618;*  by  Gio.  Batista  Ponchino,  for 
the  Pala  d'Altare  in  the  choir  of  the  Archipresbiterale 
at  Treviso,*  in  1551 ;  by  Denys  Calvart,  in  1601,  and 
by  Francesco  Albano,  in  1639,*  for  their  pictures  in  the 
church  of  the  Servites  at  Bologna ;  by  Innocenza  da 
Imola,  in  his  pictures  in  S.  Michele  in  Bosco;'  by 
Felice  Damiani,  in  1593 ;  *  and  by  Ludovico  Carracci, 
in  1587, '  in  the  picture  of  the  Conversion  of  S.  Paul. 
It  appears,  from  various  entries  in  the  account  book 
kept  by  Guercino '  of  the  receipts  for  his  pictures,  that 
he  generally  employed  ultramarine  which  was  furnished 
by  his  employer.  Sometimes  the  pigment,  ready  pre- 
pared, was  given  to  him,  and  sometimes  the  lapis  lazuli, 
from  which  it  appears  he  was  to  prepare  the  colour 
himself.  Thus,  for  the  picture  called  "  L'Amore  Vir- 
tuoso,** he  received  twenty-one  ounces  of  lapis  lazuli  to 
make  ultramarine. 

Contrary  to  the  assertion  of  some  modern  artists, 
Pungeleone  states  *  that  Correggio  always  made  use  of 
ultramarine,  although  it  appears  that  he  employed 
^*  azzurro  "  (probably  azzurro  della  magna),  which  cost 
but  three  lire  the  ounce,  for  the  decoration  of  the  "  casa 
del  anchona  de  lo  altare  grando  *'  at  Corre^io.^* 

Ultramarine  is  stated  to  have  been  found  on  Venetian 
pictures ;  and  although  the  artists  of  this  school  used  also 
the  blue  pigments  from  copper,  there  seems  litde  doubt 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  ultramarine  imported  into 

1  Oreini,  Elogio  di  Pietro  Peragino,  p.  194  and  n. 

*  Memorie  Trevig^e,  vol.  ii.  p.  59. 
« Ibid.,  p.  76. 

4  Gualandi,  Memorie,  ser.  i.  p.  4,  19.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  <61. 

•  Ibid.,  ser.  ii.  p.  4.  f  Ibid.,  ser.  ii.  p.  182, 

8  The  original  account  book  is  in  the  Ercolani  Collection  at  Boiogna. 
It  has  been  published  in  the  new  edition  of  the  Felsina  Pittrioe,  by  Jacopo 
Alesandro  Calvi,  at  Bologna. 

»  Life  of  Correggio,  vol.  i.  p.  248.  lo  ibid.,  voL  ii.  p.  6S,  69. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOUBS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  ccxiii 

Italy  was  introduced  by  way  of  Venice,  which  was  the 
great  emporium  of  Oriental  commerce. 

The  price  of  ultramarine  at  different  periods  has  been 
preserved  by  several  writers.  In  1437  it  was  sold  at 
Florence  for  eight  ducats  the  ounce.^  In  1548  the 
price  at  Venice  was  sixty  scudi  the  ounce.*  In  1788 
the  price  at  Paris  was  one  hundred  francs,  or  even  as 
much  as  fifty  crowns  the  ounce.'  The  value  of  ultra^ 
marine  is  not  stated  in  the  Bolognese  MS.,  but  the  price 
of  a  pound  of  lapis  lazuli  varied,  according  to  the  good- 
ness of  the  specimen,  from  two  to  five  ducats.  De 
Boot  mentions  ^  that  lapis  lazuli  was  usually  sold  for 
eight  or  ten  thalers  the  pound,  and  if  the  stone  was 
good  it  would  produce  at  least  ten  ounces  of  azure.  One 
of  the  best  specimens  would  yield  five  and  a  half  ounces 
of  the  best  colour,  worth  twenty  thalers  the  ounce. 
The  second  quality  was  worth  five  or  six  thalers,  the 
third  only  one  thaler,  or  one  and  a  half.  The  price  paid 
by  Lely  for  one  ounce  of  ultramarine  was  2L  1 0^.,  but 
for  the  best  kind  he  paid  as  much  as  4/.  10^.  the  ounce.^ 

Pacheco  states  *  that  ultramarine  was  not  used  by  the 
Spanish  painters  in  his  time,  but  it  was  introduced 
at  a  subsequent  period,  since  he  himself  mentions  the 
colour ; '  and  Palomino  gives  directions  *  for  using  it. 
The  latter  remarks  that  it  was  never  used  in  the  first 
painting,  because,  as  it  had  but  little  body,  it  did  not 
cover  well ;  and  also  because,  as  it  was  very  dear,  it 
would  have  been  employed  uselessly  ;  it  was  therefore 
either  glazed  or  worked  upon  some  of  the  other  blues^ 
When  employed  in  glazing  it  was  only  necessary  to 
mix  it  with  nut-oil,  and  to  pass  it  over  the  drapery  with 
a  soft  brush,  moistened  with  nut-oil  and  a  few  drops  of 
spirit  of  turpentine,  so  as  to  leave  it  smooth  and  even. 

*  Cennini,  Trattato,  cap.  62.  «  Paolo  Pino,  Dialogo,  p.  18L 
'  Traite  de  la  Peinture  aa  Pastel.        ^  Le  parfaict  Joaillier,  p.  371. 

*  Walpole'a  Anecdotes,  vol.  iii.  pp.  130,  132.         «  Tratado,  p.  391. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  392.  »  Museo  Pictorico,  voL  ii.  p.  68. 


ccxiv  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.vi. 

If  the  drapery  was  to  be  painted  with  ultramarine,  the 
light  and  dark  tints  were  to  be  mixed  with  white  lead 
and  nut-oil,  and  the  shadows  heightened  with  indigo, 
and  if  the  drapery  were  previously  glazed  with  ultra- 
marine it  would  be  more  easy  to  execute.  As  a  dryer, 
Palomino  Recommends  pulverized  smalt ;  but,  he  says,  it 
must  be  used  cautiously  or  it  will  spoil  the  colour  of  the 
ultramarine.^ 

De  Piles  also  remarks,'  that  ultramarine  should  not 
be  employed  for  the  first  painting,  but  that  the  lights 
and  shades  should  be  painted  in  very  distinctly,  the 
high  lights  consisting  of  pure  white,  with  common 
colours ;  or  that  the  first  shade  tints,  and  even  the  half 
tints,  may  be  painted  with  charcoal  of  the  willow,  which 
inclines  to  blue,  or  with  bone  black,  and  then  finished 
with  ultramarine ;  but  he  adds,  that  this  last  method 
was  not  so  good  as  the  former,  neither  were  the  tints  so 
iresh. 

Ultramarine  was  employed  by  Simone  Cantarini  with 
terra  verde  in  the  shadows  of  flesh,  and  probably  by 
Guido  and  some  of  his  pupils,'  and  by  Baroccio ;  *  and 
Padre  Francesco  Lana  recommends  ^  that  it  should  be 
mixed  with  all  the  flesh  tints. 

Blue  pigments  prepared  from  vegetables  are  not 
numerous  ;  the  principal  are  those  procured  firom  indigo 
and  woad.  Blue  colours  were  also  procured  from  the 
flowers  of  the  cornflower,'  from  turnsol  or  folium,  and 
other  plants.  The  use  of  these  pigments  was  limited  to 
miniature  painting.  GtuitOj  or  more  correc^y  guadoj 
is  the  Italian  name  for  the  isatis  tinctoria,  called  also 
glastum  sativum — a  plant  which  grows  spontaneously  in 
France,  Germany,  England,  and  other  parts  of  Europe. 
It  was  called  glastum  by  the  Romans,  and   is  now 

1  Museo  Pictorico,  vol.  ii.  p.  57.  <  El^raens,  pp.  108,  118. 

9  Malvasia,  Fels.  Pitt.,  rol.  ii.  pp.  80,  448. 
4  Bellori,  Vite,  &c.,  p.  118.  «  P.  746. 

^  Constant  de  Massoul,  p.  186. 


CHAP.  TiJ  COLOUKS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  CCXV 

known  in  France   by  the  names  of  Pastel,   Vouede, 
and  Gaude. 

There  is  sufficient  evidence  to  show  that  indigo  was 
known  as  a  pigment  in  the  time  of  the  Bomans,  and 
that  it  was  used  as  such  during  the  middle  ages  in 
Italy,  where  it  was  sold  under  the  name  of  indigo 
bagadel,  indigo  baccadeo  or  bandas,  indacca  detto 
buccaddeo,  indaco  del  golfo.^  But  there  is  no  doubt 
Ihat  the  pigment  caUed  "  indigo,"  so  frequently  men- 
tioned by  writers  on  colours  in  the  thirteenth,  four- 
teenth, and  fifteenth  centuries,  was  generally  prepared 
from  woad,  and  not  from  the  real  indigo.  This  will 
appear  from  various  recipes  in  the  Bolognese  MS./  in 
the  whole  of  which  woad  is  the  principal  ingredient. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  pigment  is  generally 
prepared  from  the  blue  or  purple  coloured  scum  which 
floats  on  the  dyers*  vats,  and  which  is  the  produce  of 
fermentation.  This  agrees  with  the  account  of  Diosco- 
rides,  who  says  there  were  two  kinds  of  indigo,  the  first 
of  which  was  brought  firom  India,  but  the  second,  which 
was  made  during  the  process  of  dyeing,  was  a  purple 
scum  which  floated  on  the  surface  of  the  vats.  In  com- 
menting on  this  passage,  Matthioli  observes,^  '^  the 
indigo  generally  used  by  the  painters  was  that  made 
in  dyehouses,  which  was  procured  firom  woad  with 
which  wool  is  dyed."  This  passage  alone  is  sufficient 
to  prove  that  the  term  "  indigo  "  was  applied  to  woad. 
Beckmann  says,*  that  under  the  name  indigo  must 
be  understood  every  kind  of  blue  pigment  separated 
from  plants  by  fermentation,  and  converted  into  a 
friable  substance  by  desiccation ;  for  those  who  should 
maintain  that  the  real  indigo  must  be  made  firom  those 


*  Depping,  rol.  i.  p.  141.    See  Cennini,  Trattato,  cap.  61.    Le  Begue, 
pp.  86,  273. 

*  Pp.  412—416.    See  also  Secreti  di  D.  Alessio,  parte  ii.  p.  84 ;  Nuovo 
Piicto dogni  aorte  di  Tinture ;  and  Paduan  MS.,  p.  676. 

'  Trans,  of  Diosoorides,  p.  1414.  «  Inventions,  tit.  Indigo. 


■••^^•1 


CCXVl  INTRODUCTION.  [chap,  vi, 

plants  named  in  the  botanical  system  Indigofera  tine- 
torioy  would  confine  the  subject  within  too  narrow 
limits ;  as  the  substance  which  our  merchants  and  dyers 
consider  as  real  indigo  is  prepared  in  different  countries 
from  so  great  a  number  of  plants,  that  they  are  not 
even  varieties  of  the  same  species/'  Although  indigo 
was  not  considered  a  durable  colour,  it  appears  to  have 
been  occasionally  used  in  oil. 

The  tints  were  made  with  white  lead.  Palomino 
says,^  ^^  that  it  is  a  fine  colour  for  draperies,  and  works 
pleasantly,  but  that  it  is  necessary  to  observe  the  fol- 
lowing conditions :  1st,  That  the  lights  should  not  be 
too  light,  because  the  colour  fades — therefore  the  tints 
should  be  sufficiently  deep ;  the  2nd  and  most  impor- 
tant, that  the  tints  should  not  be  too  oily,  but  thick,  and 
not  tormented  with  the  brush ;  and  Srdly,  that  the 
colour  should  be  well  purified."  Different  modes  of 
purifying  indigo  are  described  by  Palomino,"  and  in  the 
recipes  at  the  end  of  the  Abecedario  Pittorico,  and  also 
in  the  Paduan  MS.®  When  carefiilly  employed,  Feli- 
bien  states  ^  that  it  is  durable  if  properly  used,  but  that 
too  much  oil  must  not  be  mixed  with  it,  and  allowance 
must  be  made  for  its  tendency  to  fade. 

Green  Pigments. 

Mineral  green  pigments,  both  natural  and  artificial, 
are  produced  from  copper.  The  native  green  ores  of 
this  metal  have  always  been  used  in  painting  under  the 
names  of  mountain  green^  Hungarian  green^  c?irt/socolla, 
malachite^  cenere  verde,  verde  de  miniera^  verde  di 
Spagna,  verdetto^  and  green  bice.  To  these  colours 
must  be  added  terra  verdej  which  is  said  by  some  per- 
sons to  owe  its  colour  to  copper ;  *  others  consider  that 

1  Vol.  ii.  p.  67.  *  Museo  Pictorioo,  vol.  ii.  p.  67. 

»  P.  676.  4  Des  Principes,  &c.,  p.  299. 

^  Marcucci,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  71.     Pierre  Pomet,  Hist,  des  Drogues^  vol. 
ii.  p.  385. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  ccxvu 

it  is  a  bluish  or  grey  coaly  clay,  combined  with  yellow 
oxide  of  iron  or  yellow  ochre.^  It  was  sometimes 
called  Prasino  and  Theodote.  Pierre  Pomet*  states  that 
moantaiu  green  was  a  greenish  powder  in  small  grains 
like  sand,  and  that  it  was  distinguished  by  this  sandy 
appearance  from  tl>e  artificial,  which  consisted  of  pul- 
verized  verdigris  mixed  with  a  little  white  lead.  It  was 
also  sometimes  adulterated  with  cendre  verte,  of  which 
there  were  many  varieties.'  Mountain  green  appears 
to  have  been  but  little  used  in  oil  painting. 

Native  carbonate  of  copper,  although  sometimes  a 
pure  blue  and  sometimes  pure  green,  was  frequently  of 
a  mixed  colour,  when  it  was  called  verde  azzurro. 

Prasino  or  Pra^mwm.— Isidorus  gives  this  name  to 
green  earth  *  (terre  verte).  But  in  some  cases  the 
name  has  been  applied  to  a  white  earth  saturated  with 
a  vegetable  juice  of  a  green  colour,  as  in  the  Bolognese 
MS.,  No.  88. 

Verde  Potto — Perhaps  the  same  as  the  Prasino  of 
the  middle  ages.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  Paduan  MS., 
also  by  Pozzo  in  his  instructions  for  painting  in  fresco, 
and  by  Baldinucci;^  the  latter  states  that  it  was  a 
pigment  of  a  whitish  green  colour,  like  that  of  the  leek, 
whence  it  takes  its  name.  It  appears  that  during  the 
middle  ages  the  juice  of  the  leek  was  actually  used  as 
a  pigment.* 

Various  artificial  green  pigments  were  prepared  from 
copper  which  were  known  to  medieval  painters  under 
the  names  of  viride  salsum,  viride  Hispanicum,  viride 
Rothomagense,  and  viride  Grcecum.  In  the  last  may 
be  traced  the  verdigris  (verd  de  Grfice)'  of  the  modems. 

The  best  kind  of  verdigris  was  prepared  at  Mar- 
seilles by  a  process  which  has  been  frequently  described. 

1  Field,  Chromatography,  p.  233;  and  see  Merimde,  p.  191. 

*  Hist,  dcs  Drogues,  vol.  ii.  p.  286.  3  Ibid.,  p.  385. 

*  See  p.  244,  n.  4 ;  and  Theophilus,  E.  ed.,  101.  »  Voc.  Dis. 

*  Sec  p.  166.  "^  See  Mr.  Eastlake's  *  Materials,'  &c.,  p.  118. 


CCXVUl  INTBODUCTION.  [chap.  n. 

This  pigment  was  known  to  the  Spaniards  by  the  names 
of  verdete  and  cardenillo.  Verdigris  was  generally 
purified  by  redissolving  it  in  vinegar,  and  then  sufiering 
it  to  crystallize  in  lai^e  crystals,  by  the  evaporation  of 
the  vinegar,  when  it  was  sold  under  the  name  of  "dis- 
tilled "  or  **  crystallized  verdigris  "  and  "  verde  etema  * 

Verdetto. — There  are  several  pigments  of  this  name. 
1 .  A  mineral  green  pigment  which,  according  to  Bor- 
ghini  and  Baldinucci,  is  found  in  the  mountains  of  Crer- 
many ;  this  probably  was  mountain  green  or  malachite, 
the  green  carbonate  of  copper.  2.  A  vegetable  pig- 
ment mentioned  by  Lomazzo  and  in  the  Paduan  MS., 
which  was  of  a  yellowish  colour,  apparently  of  the 
nature  of  brown  pink;  Haydocke  called  this  colour 
holy  green.  3.  An  artificial  green  pigment  prepared 
from  copper,  called  "  Verdet "  in  the  Brussels  MS,^ 
and  Verdete  by  the  Spanish.  These  two  pigments 
differ  in  the  mode  of  preparation. 

Verde  etemo. — Another  name  for  distilled  or  crys- 
tallized verdigris.'  It  is  a  neutral  acetate  of  copper, 
prepared  by  dissolving  verdigris  in  hot  acetic  acid, 
and  leaving  the  filtered  solution  to  cool.  It  forms 
beautifiil  dark  green  crystals.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
much  used  by  the  Venetian  painters.  This  colour  is 
mentioned  by  Volpato,  who  remarks,'  "  H  verde  etemo 
si  cristalino  chiaro  e  di  color  vivace."  Baldinucci  says* 
it  was  so  called  because  it  never  lost  its  brightness,  as 
all  other  greens  did.  He  adds  that  this  was  nothing 
else  but  a  glazing  of  purified  verdigris  spread  thin  over 
silver  leaf.* 

Green  pigments  prepared  from  vegetables  are  nume- 
rous. The  principal  of  these  are  sap  green^  the  verde  di 
vesicha  and  pasta  verde  of  the  Italians,  prepared  from 
the  berries  of  the  buckthorn  (Spincervino — Rhamnus 


1  P.  806.  «  Marcucci,  Saggio,  &c,,  p.  74.  «  P.  744. 

^  Voc.  Dis.  ft  See  also  Mr.  Eastlake's  <  Materials/  p.  458. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  ccxix 

catharticus).     The  juice  being  boiled  down  was  inspis- 
sated, and  when  dry  was  preserved  in  bladders. 

Lily  or  Iris  green  (verde  giglio). — This  pigment  was 
sometimes  prepared  for  use  by  dipping  pieces  of  linen 
(pezzette)  into  the  juice  and  then  preserving  them  dry. 
Green  pigments  were  also  prepared  from  rue,  parsley, 
columbine,  and  from  the  black  nightshade  (the  herba 
morella  of  the  Italians,  which  must  be  distinguished 
from  the  "maurelle**  or  Croton  tinctorium).  The 
juice  of  this  plant  was  incorporated  with  green  earth  ; 
in  this  respect  it  resembled  the  pigments  called  by  the 
French  stils  de  grain,  prepared  from  the  berries  of  the 
Khamnus  infectorius  (grain  d'Avignon).  The  colour 
of  these  pigments  varied  from  a  brownish  green  (brown 
pink)  to  yellow. 

It  was  generally  considered  that  mixed  greens,  com- 
posed of  blue  and  yellow,  were  more  permanent  than 
any  of  the  before-mentioned  green  pigments.  They 
were  frequently  compounded  of  ultramarine  and  orpi- 
ment,  of  azzurro  della  magna  and  giallolino,  of  indigo 
and  orpiment,  and  of  one  of  the  mineral  blues  with  a 
yellow  lake.* 

Verdigris,  and  especially  distilled  verdigris,  or 
verde  eterno,  was  extensively  employed  by  all  the 
Italian  schools  for  glazing,  and  especially  by  the  Vene- 
tian, and  the  brilliant  green  draperies  on  the  pictures 
of  this  school  were  produced  by  this  colour. 

Verdigris  was  sometimes  added  to  black  to  make  it 
dry,*  but  Le  Brun  remarics  *  that  it  must  only  be  used 
in  the  shadows,  for  it  is  a  poison  in  painting,  and  kills 
all  the  colours  with  which  it  is  mixed.  It  appears, 
from  the  Paduan  MS.*  to  have  been  sometimes  mixed 
with  vegetable  greens  and  yellows,  and  also  with  umber 


»  See  Cennini,  cap.  63,  64,  66  ;  Borghini,  p.  170.       »  Volpato,  p.  747. 
»  P.  823,  and  see  De  Piles,  Eldmens,  &c.,  p.  124.    F^libien,  Principes, 
&c,  300.  *  P.  652. 


CCXX  INTRODUCTION.  [chap,  vl 

and  indigo  for  making  dark  green.  It  should,  however, 
be  used  alone ;  and  De  Files  observes  ^  that  if  the 
smallest  particle  of  it  enter  into  the  priming  of  a  pic- 
ture, it  is  sufficient  to  ruin  it  It  is  even  necessary,  he 
adds,  to  avoid  using  with  other  colours  the  brushes 
which  have  been  employed  for  verdigris. 

Lionardo  da  Vinci  remarks*  that  it  was  liable  not 
only  to  fade,  but  to  be  removed  from  the  picture  by 
washing  it  with  water,  unless  a  coat  of  varnish  was 
passed  over  it. 

Volpato  also  notices  the  solubility  of  this  colour  in 
water,  and  remarks  that  it  must  be  removed  from  the 
palette  before  the  latter  is  put  into  water  to  preserve 
the  colours  when  the  day's  work  is  over.  In  the 
Venetian  school  it  appears  the  colour  was  usually 
laid  on  with  varnish. 

Pacheco  directs'  that  purified  verdigris  should  be 
ground  in  oil  for  the  first  painting,  but  for  the  last 
glazing  varnish  should  be  added.  Lebrun  says  *  that 
to  make  a  very  beautiful  green  for  glazing,  verdigris 
should  be  used  with  varnish ;  it  will  then  be  very  beau- 
tifiil,  and  will  not  fade.  In  another  place  he  ol^erves,* 
"  Verdigris  is  very  good,  if  employed  with  fat  oil." 

Verdigris  is  liable  to  turn  black  in  time,  and  when 
in  this  state  the  surface  has  been  removed  by  a  pen- 
knife, and  the  colour  beneath  was  found  to  be  per- 
fectly fresh  and  bright 

Borghini  states*  that  terra  verde  was  used  in  all 
three  (fresco,  oil,  and  tempera^  kinds  of  painting.  Le- 
brun remarks  f  "  Verd  de  terre  is  used  in  the  shades 
of  flesh-colour,  but  it  must  be  employed  sparingly,  for 
with  age  the  colour  appears  crude,  which  would  produce 
a  bad  efiect"  Merim^e  observes*  that  Rubens  had 
made  great  use  of  this  colour,  not  only  in  landscapes  but 


»  El^inens,  &c.,  p.  124.  »  Trattato,  cap.  xcix. 

3  Tratado,  p.  389.  *  P.  813.  *  P.  816. 

«  Ri|>oso,  p.  169.         7  p.  813.         «  De  la  Peinture  &  THuile,  p.  W2. 


cBiP.  VI.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  CCXXi 

in  his  carnations.  He  concurs  with  Le  Bran  in  the  fact 
of  the  colour  deepening  in  time,  and  states  that  for  this 
reason  terre  verte  should  be  employed  cautiously. 
There  are  frequent  notices  in  Italian  writers  of  terre 
verte  being  employed  in  painting  the  shades  of  flesh, 
but  it  is  not  always  clear  whether  the  pigment  was 
used  raw  or  burnt.  Thus  Malvasia,^  in  speaking  of 
Simone  Cantarini's  method  of  painting  flesh,  remarks, 
''  He  was  therefore  as  partial  to  white  lead  as  he  was 
inimical  to  lake  and  umber  for  his  outlines  and  shades ; 
in  which  he  used  to  employ  plenty  of  ultramarine  and 
terra  verde,  learning  from  Guido  the  value  of  these 
two  colours  in  painting  delicate  shadows."  It  is  very 
possible  that  as  the  terra  verde  was  used  for  the  sha* 
dows^  it  might  have  been  burnt.  Lomazzo  directs' 
that  the  shadow  colour  for  flesh  should  be  made  with 
nero  di  campana  and  burnt  terra  verde,  or  with  umber 
and  humt  terra  verde ;  and  the  Faduan  MS.'  states 
that  umber,  burnt  terra  verde,  and  asphaltum  were 
used  for  the  same  purpose. 

Brovm  Pigments. 

The  brown  pigments  used  in  the  middle  ages  were 
very  few;  those  employed  by  the  Italians  were  not 
numerous,  and  they  are  frequently  classed  with  black 
pigments.  The  principal  were  bistre,  which  is  men- 
tioned by  medieval  writers  under  the  name  of  fuligo 
and  by  Lomazzo  under  that  of  iuligine ;  umber,  raw 
and  burnt;  Cologne  earth,  burnt  terra  verde,  and 
asphaltum. 

Umber  is  a  hydrate  of  oxide  of  iron  mixed  with  a 
variable  quantity  of  oxide  of  manganese  and  a  small 
proportion  of  clay.^  Merim^e  says  it  contains  silica  and 
alumina  also.  The  best  is  reputed  to  be  brought  from 
the  Levant,   although    it  is   really   the    produce    of 

'  FeU.  Pitt,  vol.  ii.  p.  448.  «  Trattato,  p.  302.  »  P.  660. 

*  De  Brongniart,  Easaie  des  Arts  Cdramiquw,  p.  639. 


CCXXU  INTRODUCTION.  [chap,  vl 

Cyprus.'  This  was  probably  imported  into  Venice, 
and  thence  to  other  parts  of  Europe,  particularly  to 
Spain,  where  the  Venetian  umber  was  sold  under  the 
name  of  sombra  di  Venezia." 

Besides  its  use  in  painting  as  a  shadow  colour  both 
in  flesh'  and  yellow  draperies^  and  for  all  colours 
lighter  than  itsel^^  it  was  sometimes  boiled  with  oil 
as  a  drier  both  for  painting  and  mordants/  It  was 
also  occasionally  added  to  grounds,''  but  for  this  purpose 
it  was  not  generally  approved.®  Umber  was  some- 
times called  falzalo  by  the  Italians.*  Mixed  with  fine 
lake,  it  was  used  as  a  glazing  colour  for  shadows. 

Cologne  earth,  a  bituminous  earth,  which,  although  a 
powerful  colour,  has  the  disadvantage  of  fading  and  of 
drying  very  slowly.  The  former,  according  to  Merimfe, 
is  prevented  by  mixing  it  with  very  durable  pigments, 
the  latter  can  only  be  remedied  by  the  addition  of  a 
drier  to  the  oil.  This  pigment  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  known  to  Lomazzo,  Borghini,  or  the  early  Italian 
writers.  Neither  does  the  name  occur  in  any  of  the 
treatises  in  this  work,  nor  in  the  *  Principes  de  Pein- 
ture '  of  F^libien,  nor  the  *  Elfemens  de  Peinture '  of 
De  Piles.  It  seems  to  have  been  used  principally  by 
the  Flemish  and  Dutch  painters."  It  is,  however, 
stated  to  have  been  employed  by  the  Venetian  painters, 
but  this  appears  to  require  confirmation. 

When  terra  verde  is  burnt  over  a  slow  fire,^^  and  the 
heat  gradually  increased  until  the  pigment  is  roasted,  it 
is  converted  into  a  fine  warm  brown,  which  was  used, 
mixed  with  other  colours,  by  the  Italians  for  the  sha- 
dows of  flesh.^*     Modern  writers  do  not  mention  this 

^  Merim6e,  p.  206.  «  PalomiDo,  vol.  ii.  pp.  62,  149. 

3  Pp.  650,  654.  Malvasia,  Fels.  Pitt.,  vol.  ii.  p.  448.  PalomiDO, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  62—64.     Lomazzo,  Trattato,  pp.  191, 312. 

^  Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  66.  ^  Lomazzo,  Trattato,  p.  197. 

«  Borghini,  p.  176.    Paduan  MS.,  p.  740.       f  Volpato,  pp.  780,  746,  n. 

8  P.  813.    Merimee,  p.  206.      *  9  Lomazzo,  Trattato,  p.  191. 

10  Mr.  Eastlake's  *  Materials,*  &c.,  p.  462.  ii  P.  746. 

»2  P.  650.     Lomazzo,  Trattato,  p.  191. 


.  viO  COLOUBS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  ccxxiii 

colour,  but  the  use  of  it  has  been  revived  by  an  emi- 
nent ^English  artist,  under  the  name  of  "  Verona 
brown.** 

A^haUum,  Bitume  Gindaico^  Nero  di  Spalto. — 
Several  kinds  of  asphaltum  are  used  in  the  arts.  The 
best  is  considered  to  be  the  Egyptian.  This  will  dis- 
solve neither  in  oil,  water,  nor  turpentine,  but  it  must 
be  fused,  and  then  mixed  with  linseed  oil.^  There  is 
little  doubt  from  the  descriptions  of  Borghini'  and 
Baldinucci,'  that  the  old  masters  used  the  Egyptian 
asphaltum,  since  they  mention  that  it  was  brought  from 
the  Lake  of  Sodom.  Other  kinds  of  asphaltum  are 
brought  from  China,  France,  Neufchatel,  and  Naples. 
That  brought  from  Naples  is  reputed  to  be  next  in 
goodness  to  the  Egyptian.  It  will  dissolve  in  oil,  but 
never  yields  that  intense  black  to  the  same  quantity  of 
oil  as  the  real  Egyptian.  This  is  probably  the  kind 
now  employed  by  the  Italians,  who  dissolve  it  in  oil, 
spirit  of  turpentine,  and  Venice  turpentine.  It  is  not 
always  easy  to  procure  genuine  asphaltum.  Watin 
remarks  ^  tiiat  it  was  frequently  adulterated  with  pitch, 
and  that  what  is  generally  sold  for  asphaltum  in  Hol- 
land is  nothing  but  the  residuum  left  after  the  distilla- 
tion of  oil  of  amber.  Mr.  Wilson  Neil  states  that 
a  similar  kind  of  factitious  asphaltum  is  now  made  in 
London,  which  is  not  inferior  to  the  best  Egyptian. 
This  consists  of  the  residuum  left  from  burning  linseed- 
oil  and  resin.  The  mixture  of  resin  with  asphaltum 
may  be  detected  by  spirit  of  wine,  which  dissolves  the 
resin,  but  not  the  asphaltum.^ 

Liomazzo  says  *  that  it  was  used  to  give  brightness  to 
light  and  chesnut  hair.  Boschini  states''  that  it  was 
much  employed  by  Andrea  Schiavone,  who  used  it  in 

1  WilsoQ  Neil  on  the  Manufacture  of  Varnishes,  Trans.  Soc.  Arts,  vol. 
xlix.  p.  57.  «  Ripoflo,  p.  164.  »  Voc.  Dis. 

^  L'Art  da  Vemissettr,  p.  216.  ^  Marcucci,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  95. 

<  Trattato,  p.  198.  f  Ricche  Minere. 


CCXXiv  INTRODUCTION.  [chip.  ti. 

glazing  the  shades  of  the  flesh  in  undraped  figures, — 
that  Giacomo  Bassano  (il  Yecchio)  employed  it  mixed 
with  lake  in  the  ultimate  retouchings,  and  that  he 
glazed  with  this  colour  all  the  shadows  indifierently, 
whether  of  flesh,  or  drapery,  or  other  things.  In  the 
Faduan  MS.  it  is  stated  to  be  used  for  the  shadows  of 
flesh  mixed  with  umber  and  burnt  terra  verde,^ 

Palomino'  classes  asphaltum  among  the  useless 
colours,  and  says  its  place  may  be  supplied  with  bone 
black,  mixed  with  fine  carmine  and  ancorca ;  that  it  is 
a  bad  drier,  and  requires  the  addition  of  a  mordant  to 
make  it  dry :  he  adds,  that  there  is  no  doubt  it  was 
used  by  the  great  colourists,  especially  in  Seville  and 
Granada,  although  one  may  do  miracles  without  it 
Volpato  directs '  that  it  should  be  mixed  with  boiled 
oil  and  verdigris  to  make  it  dry. 

The  evidence  of  a  modern  Italian  writer*  and  of 
several  restorers  of  pictures  is  decidedly  in  favour  of  its 
having  been  used  as  a  glazing  colour  only ;  according 
to  the  latter  it  was  dissolved  in  oil  or  spirit  of  turpen- 
tine, and  applied,  like  other  glazing  colours,  with  the 
hand,  which  insured  its  being  thinly  and  evenly  spread. 
But  even  as  a  glazing  colour,  it  grew  darker  in  time,* 
and  the  obscurity,  so  frequently  observed  and  regretted, 
of  many  Italian  pictures,  is  attributed  to  the  excessive 
use  of  asphaltum.  The  fact  that  the  Neapolitan  as- 
phaltum does  not  yield  so  intense  a  black  to  the  same 
quantity  of  oil  as  the  Egyptian,  with  its  known  property 
of  darkening  with  age  on  paintings,  would  seem  to 
suggest  the  propriety  of  using  the  Egyptian  asphaltum, 
which  being  intensely  black  at  first,  would  probably  be 
less  likely  to  increase  in  colour.  Its  extreme  blackness 
would  at  least  cause  it  to  be  employed  sparingly  and 
very  thinly  as  a  shadow  colour. 


1  P.  650.  «  Museo  Fictorico,  toI.  ii.  p.  53.  «  P.  747. 

4  Marcucci,  pp.  96,  208.  »  Bald.,  Voc,  Di& 


CHIP.  VI.]  CX)LOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  CCXXV 

Marcucci  describes  a  liquid  preparation  of  asphaltum 
composed  in  the  following  manner :  one  part  of  Venice 
turpentine  and  one  and  a  half  part  of  spirit  of  turpen- 
tine are  put  into  a  bottle  which  is  to  be  placed  in  a 
sand-bath  to  liquefy ;  two  parts  of  asphaltum  are  then 
to  be  added  in  powder,  and  the  whole  is  to  be  stirred 
and  left  over  the  fire  until  it  boils.  When  it  has  boiled 
for  one  hour,  it  is  to  be  removed  from  the  fire,  and 
before  it  cools  a  little  nut-oil  is  to  be  added  to  give  it  a 
proper  consistence,  and  when  it  is  used  a  small  quantity 
of  mastic  varnish  and  some  kind  of  drier  are  to  be 
added.  This,  he  says,  is  an  excellent  colour  for  glaz- 
ing, but  it  must  be  used  sparingly,  as  it  deepens  its 
colour  with  age. 

Mummy  is  by  some '  considered  to  be  the  same  as 
asphaltum,  but  Marcucci '  states  that  the  colour  of  the 
former  is  warmer,  and  the  smell  more  aromatic,  and 
that  its  external  character  is  different.  He  remarks 
that  it  is  a  fine  colour  for  glazing  oil-paintings,  espe- 
cially in  the  carnations ;  it  is  ground  with  nut-oil,  and 
is  used  with  varnish  and  a  drier. 

Black  Pigments. 

The  principal  black  pigments  weje  terra  nera,  coal, 
terra  nera  di  Campana,  nero  di  schiuma  di  ferro,  and 
charcoal  of  various  kinds ;  namely,  burnt  ivory  and 
bones,  oak  and  vine  branches,  stones  of  peaches,  shells 
of  almonds,  paper,  smoke  of  resin,  and  of  nut-oil. 

Terra  nerO'j  which  may  certainly  be  considered  sy- 
nonymous with  terre  noire^  is  identified  by  De  Mayerne 
with  "  crayon  noir^^  or  "  black  chalke'' '  The  Italians 
procured  terra  nera  from  several  places.  Cennini* 
mentions  a  black  stone  brought  from  Piedmont,  used 
for  drawing  and  painting,  which  he  describes  as  soh 
and  unctuous.     Later    Italian  writers   mention  terra! 


*  Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  53.  >  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  95. 

*  Mr.  Eaitlake's  *  Materials/  &c.,  p.  466.  «  Cap.  34. 

VOL.  I.  p 


CCXXVi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

nera  di  Roma  and  terra  nera  di  Venezia;  the  latter 
was  procured  from  Verona,  Borghini  says  ^  that  nero 
di  terra  is  a  native  unctuous  pigment,  which  may  be 
used  in  fresco,  oil,  and  tempera  painting.  The  name 
of  this  pigment  occurs  in  the  Paduan  MS.*  Lomazzo ' 
does  not  appear  to  distinguish  it  frotn  nero  di  scaglia. 

A  black  pigment  from  common  coal  (charbon  de 
terre)  does  not  appear  to  be  mentioned  by  Italian 
writers,  although  it  is  said,  on  the  authority  of  Lebrun,* 
to  have  been  much  ased  in  Italy  for  external  painting, 
because  it  was  more  durable  than  any  other.  Mr. 
Eastlake  has  shown  *  that  it  was  frequently  employed 
by  the  Flemish  and  Dutch  painters.  The  tint  furnished 
by  coal  mixed  with  oil  is  stated  to  be  brownish. 

Terra  nera  di  Campana  is  made  from  a  certain  crust 
which  forms  on  the  moulds  in  which  bells  and  artillery 
are  cast.  It  is  used  in  all  three  kinds  of  painting,  but 
in  a  short  time  it  fades  and  spoils  the  pictures.  It  is 
mentioned  by  Borghini,®  by  Baldinucci,'  and  by  Lo- 
mazzo.* 

Nero  di  Schiuma  di  Ferro  was  composed  of  scales  of 
iron  mixed  with  terra  verde  and  finely  ground.  Bor- 
ghini, Lomazzo,  and  Baldinucci  mention  this  colour. 

Ivory  Black  is  distinguished  by  many  writers  from 
bone  black.  It  is  described  as  being  intensely  black, 
and  very  transparent.  Lebrun  remarks  that  if  it  is 
steeped  in  vinegar  and  dried  in  the  sun,  it  cannot  be 
effaced. 

Bone  Black  was  prepared  from  the  bones  of  various 
animals,  but  Palomino  states  *  that  the  best  kind  was 
prepared  from  the  bones  of  pigs,  although  the  bones  of 
stags  and  oxen  were  sometimes  used.  Others  employed 
mutton  bones.  It  is  represented  to  be  of  a  reddish 
colour,  which  may  even  be  converted  into  brown  by 

1  Riposo,  p.  164.         8  p.  660.       8  Trattato,  p.  192.        *  P.  812  and  n. 
»  Materials,  &c.,  p.  467.  «  Riposo,  p.  164.  7  Voc.  Dis. 

«  Trattato,  p.  193.  »  Museo  Pictorico,  vol.  ii.  p.  63. 


CHAP.  VI.]  COLOUKS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  CCXXVll 

arresting  the  carbonization  before  it  is  complete,  and  to 
dry  very  slowly.  In  grinding  it  with  oil  it  is  necessary 
to  use  more  force  than  with  any  other  colour,  in  order 
to  add  with  more  facility  the  necessary  quantity  of  fat 
or  drying  oil.' 

The  blacks  made  from  vegetable  charcoal  are  not  of 
80  intense  a  black  as  those  of  ivory  and  bone  ; '  of  these 
some  painters  preferred  the  black  made  from  burnt 
vine-branches,  sometimes  called  blue  blacky^  which  Bor- 
ghini  says  *  is  excellent  for  painting  in  oil.  Other  authors 
mention  the  charcoal  of  burnt  oak  stripped  of  the  bark,^ 
of  the  stones  of  peaches,  and  of  the  shells  of  almonds.' 
The  black  of  peach  stones  when  mixed  with  white  has  a 
blue  tint  Lamp  black  is  used  in  oil  painting,  although 
not  approved  of  by  many  writers.'  It  is  always  necessary 
to  calcine  it  before  it  is  used  in  oil  painting.'  Ink,  and 
especially  printing-ink,  was  formerly  made  of  the  soot 
collected  from  burning  resin  or  oil  in  a  paper  lantern. 
This  is  the  ink  of  which  Cennini  speaks  in  the  early 
part  of  his  book.  It  was  also  used  by  Lionardo  da 
Vinci  •  mixed  with  lake  for  the  darkest  shades,  and  Va- 
sari  relates  that  Fra  Bartolomeo  wishing  to  imitate  the 
colouring  of  Lionardo  on  a  certain  picture,  also  em- 
ployed this  colour  and  burnt  ivory,  and  that  the  picture 
had  darkened  much  in  consequence.  To  the  same  cause 
Vasari  attributes  the  darkening  of  the  colours  in  the 
'Transfiguration '  of  Raphael.*® 

Another  charcoal  black  was  procured  from  the  a.shes 
of  paper,  burnt  in  a  closed  iron  tube  and  afterwards 
ground  with  water."     This  black  pigment  is  mentioned 

1  Constant  de  Massoul,  p.  215.  *  Merimde,  p.  208. 

'  Constant  de  Massoul,  p.  215. 

*  Ripoio,  p.  164 ;  and  see  Cennini,  Trattato,  cap.  xzzvii. 
^  Palomino,  toI.  ii.  p.  54.    Borghini,  p.  164. 

*  Cennini,  cap.  37.     Borghini,  p.  164.     Baldinucci,  Yoc.  Dis. 

'  See  p.  823.  8  Marcucci,  p.  167.     Merim^e,  p.  209. 

*  TratUto,  c.  353 ;  and  see  Vasari,  Vita  di  Fra  Bartolomeo. 

w  VaNiri,  Vita  di  Raffiiello  da  Urbino.  »'  Marcucci,  p.  167. 

p  2 


CCXXviil  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.vi. 

by  Borghini  *  and  by  Baldinucci,  and  appears  to  be  still 
made  in  Italy.  Marcucci  *  states  that  he  had  found  it 
a  very  good  black,  and  that  it  did  not  deepen  in  colour 
like  some  other  blacks. 

Black  pigments  are  considered  slow  in  drying.  Vol- 
pato  directs '  that  boiled  oil  and  verdigris  should  be 
added  to  lamp-black  to  make  it  dry.*  The  Paduan 
MS.*  recommends  the  addition  of  ground  glass,  which 
it  is  stated  will  make  the  colour  dry  in  twenty-four 
hours.  Baldinucci  *  says  black  earth,  bone  black,  and 
lamp  black  require  the  addition  of  litharge  or  ground 
glass  to  the  boiled  oil. 

From  the  preceding  account  of  the  principal  colours 
used  in  painting  it  will  be  seen  that,  notwithstanding 
the  numerous  names  by  which  pigments  were  known  in 
different  countries  and  at  different  periods,  the  real 
number  was  not  in  fact  so  great  as  might  be  at  first 
imagined.  This  is  exemplified  in  the  various  names  by 
which  the  blue  carbonate  of  copper  and  the  red  ores  of 
iron  were  formerly  known. 

It  will  also  be  observed  that  the  colours  lost  or  fallea 
into  disuse  are  the  native  mineral  pigments,  for  which 
artificial  preparations  of  a  similar  nature  have  been  sub- 
stituted. Thus  the  native  yellow  and  red  orpiment 
have  been  superseded  by  the  artificial  pigments  which 
bear  these  names,  and  which,  besides  the  usual  defects 
of  artificial  as  compared  with  ■  natural  pigments,  have 
the  additional  disadvantage  of  being  more  poisonous. 
Instead  of  the  native  giallorino,  or  Naples  yellow,  we 
have  the  modern  pigment  composed  of  the  oxides  of 
lead  and  antimony,  known  under  the  name  of  Naples 
yellow.  Instead  of  the  native  carbonates  of  copper  we 
have  the  artificial  preparations.  Native  minium  and 
native  cinnabar  have  also  fallen  into  disuse.     The  only 

I  Ripoto,  p.  164.         «  Saggio,  p.  208.         »  P.  747.         *  P.  822. 

»  P.  666.  «  Voc.  Di«, 


CHAP.  Ti.]  COLOURS  USED  IN  PAINTING.  CCXXIX 

exception,  perhaps,  besides  the  natural  yellow  and  red 
ochres,  is  ultramarine,  for  which  no  perfect  substitute, 
possessing  properties  in  every  respect  equally  eligible, 
has  yet  been  discovered.  With  the  exception  of  these 
natural  pigments,  the  colours  lost  are  of  little  value. 

It  will  be  also  observed  that  the  more  durable  lakes 
prepared  from  kermes  and  lac  have  been  superseded 
by  the  more  brilliant,  but  less  permanent,  lake  from 
cochineal. 

Another  source  of  confusion,  and  which  has  much  in- 
creased the  difficulty  of  identifying  pigments,  has  arisen 
from  giving  the  name  of  a  well-known  pigment  to 
another  which  resembled  it  in  colour,  but  which  in 
other  respects  differed  essentially.  Among  pigments 
of  this  description  may  be  enumerated  safidarace^  san- 
daracOy  which  has  been  used  to  denote  red  orpiment, 
red  lead,  and  massicot ;  minium^  the  ancient  term  for 
vermilion,  and  the  modem  term  for  red  lead ;  cinnabar^ 
used  to  signify  a  red  earth  and  vermilion;  smaltOj 
snudHnOj  sometimes  applied  to  a  vitreous  blue  pigment 
coloured  with  smalt,  sometimes  to  one  coloured  with 
copper ;  indigo^  used  to  denote  both  woad  and  indigo ; 
OTzica^  which  signified  both  a  yellow  lake  and  a  native 
ochreous  pigment;  verdetto^  which  denoted  sometimes 
a  native  mineral  green  pigment,  sometimes  an  artificial 
mineral  pigment  of  the  same  colour,  and  sometimes  a 
vegetable  green  pigment 

Finally,  the  confusion  has  been  increased  by  adopting 
foreign  names  instead  of  the  original  term ;  thus  one  of 
the  old  pigments  called  giallorino  is  now  known  in  Italy 
under  the  term  massicot,  and  the  original  appellation  is 
almost  lost. 


CCXXX  INTRODUCTION,  [chap.  vi. 

Of  Grinding  and  Diluting  the  Colours. 

The  universal  testimony  of  all  writers  who  have 
treated  on  the  technical  part  of  painting  establishes  the 
fact  that  the  colours  (excepting  some  which  were  kept 
in  powder)  were  ground  in  oil.^  Vasari,  Armenini, 
BisagnOy  Borghini,  and  Gasparo  Colombino  ^  give  the 
preference  to  nut-oil,  which,  it  is  stated,  i6  less  apt  to 
become  yellow,  Borghini  says,^  "  Let  him  who  would 
paint  in  oil  on  panel .  .  .  •  colour  it  with  colours  tem- 
pered with  nut-oil  only,  and  nothing  else  **  (senza  piii). 
Volpato  directs  *  that  white  lead  should  be  ground  with 
nut-oil ;  verde  etemo,  indigo,  and  all  other  blues,  char- 
coal, and  other  colours  with  linseed  oil.  The  Marciana 
MS.  also  directs  *  that  all  ihe  colours  were  to  be  ground 
with  oil  as  stiffly  as  possible,  that  is,  with  very  little  oil, 
and  that  they  were  to  be  ground  so  finely  that  on  being 
felt  with  the  fingers  no  hard  grains  could  be  perceived. 
This  is  in  accordance  with  the  old  Italian  practice,  as 
described  by  Cennini,  who  repeatedly  inculcates  the 
perfect  levigation  of  the  colours ;  and  with  the  example 
of  Michael  Angelo,  who  is  said  to  have  ground  his  own 
colours,*  and  also  with  the  practice  of  the  Flemish 
school.'^  But  it  appears,  that  the  later  Italians,  and 
especially  the  Venetians,  did  not  consider  this  point  of 
importance  as  far  as  regards  the  under  colours.  If 
there  were  any  doubt  of  the  colours  of  the  Venetians 
being  coarsely  ground,  it  would  be  sufficiently  proved 
by  the  assertion  of  a  professor  of  painting  at  Venice 
that  he  had  with  his  penknife  picked  out  of  Venetian 

1  F^libien,  Principes,  &c.,  p.  295.  Bulengenis,  De  Pictum,  &c.  Bald-i 
Voc.  Dis.      Lebrun,  p.  771. 

s  Discorso  del  Disegno,  &c.   Padova,  1623. 

»  Riposo,  p.  13S.  *  P.  759.  »  P.  627. 

^  See  Lanzi,  Storia  Pittorica,  vol.  i.  p.  114. 

'  "  Les  peintres  Flamands  ne  prennent  que  la  cr^me  des  couleurs,  apr^ 
les  avoir  delay^  et  noy^es  dans  une  grande  quantite  d'cau.' — TraU6  de  la 
Peinture  au  Pastel,  &c. 


CBAP.  ▼!.]    GBINDIN6  AND  DILUTING  THE  COLOURS.        CCXXXl 

pictures  of  the  best  period  grains  of  colour  suflSlciently 
large  to  have  them  analysed. 

The  recommendation  in  the  Marciana  MS.  before 
mentioned  to  grind  the  colours  with  as  little  oil  as  pos- 
sible is. insisted  upon  by  most  writers  on  art.^  Borghini 
gives '  as  a  reason  for  this  practice  that  the  oil  in  drying 
would  become  dark  (nero).  Again,  he  remarks,  **If 
the  colours  are  made  liquid  with  too  much  oil,  it  lessens 
considerably  their  brilliancy."  The  use  of  too  much 
oil  is  frequently  condemned  by  Malvasia '  and  by  Lanzi. 
The  latter  attributes  ^  to  this  cause  the  ruin  of  so  many 
paintings  by  the  Carracci,  by  Lo  Spagnuolo,  and  by 
Fasignano.  Armenini  also  concurs  in  stating  that  oil 
renders  the  colours  dark. 

After  directing  how  the  colours  are  to  be  ground  the 
Marciana  MS.  continues,  '^  Also,  while  you  are  painting, 
if  you  find  the  colours  too  stiff,  dip  your  pencil  into  a 
litde  oil  and  stir  it  well  into  the  colour."  The  same 
MS.  also  directs  that  the  "vernice  comune,"  which 
might  be  mixed  with  colours,  was,  when  too  thick,  to 
be  diluted  with  oil.  It  may  be  considered  certain,  then, 
that  during  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  it  was 
the  practice  in  Italy  to  dilute  the  colours  with  nut  or 
linseed  oil,  and  not  with  an  essential  oil.  The  anecdote 
related  by  Ridolfi,  who  wrote  a  century  later  than  this 
MS.,  proves  that  this  practice  was  preserved,  tradition- 
ally at  least,  in  his  time.  But  although  this  may  have 
been  the  general  practice,  it  by  no  means  follows  that 
all  colours  were  thus  diluted ;  and  the  specification  that 
certain  colours  were  to  be  made  to  flow  by  dipping  the 
brush  in  an  essential  oil,  is  at  once  an  admission  that  it 
was  the  general  custom  to  use  linseed  or  nut  oil  for  this 
pm^)ose,  and  also  that  these  oils  were  not  equally  adapted 

*  F^iilrien,  Principes,  &c.,  p.  298.   Requenos,  Saggio,  &c.,  vol.  i.  p.  163. 
Verri,  Saggio  Elementare,  &c.,  p.  1 16.    Marcucci,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  201. 

*  Ripoao,  p.  176.  »  Fela.  Pitt.,  vol.  ii.  p.  460. 
«  Sloria  Pittorica,  vol.  v.  pp.  70,  161 ;  vol.  i.  p.  106. 


CCXXXU  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

for  all  colours.  Thus  Volpato  observes '  that  painters 
were  accustomed  to  make  Spanish  blue  flow  by  dipping 
their  brushes  in  spirit  of  turpentine,  and  ultramarine 
with  naphtha.  Facheco,  whose  whites  and  blues  were 
the  admiration  of  Cespedes,  and  of  those  Italian  painters 
who  had  seen  them,  relates  *  that  he  dipped  his  brush  in 
oil  of  spike  when  painting  to  make  the  colours  flow. 
It  appears,  however,  that  the  practice  of  diluting  the 
colours  with  naphtha  was  sometimes  carried  to  excess 
by  the  Bolognese  painters;  this  was  the  case  with 
Flam  in  io  Torre,  the  irrecoverable  decay  of  whose  pic- 
tures is  attributed  by  Malvasia'  and  Lanzi^  to  tbe 
C9nstant  use  of  naphtha.  F61ibien,^  who  appears  to 
have  been  well  acquainted  with  the  Italian  practice, 
remarks  that  "  those  who  wish  their  pictures  to  remain 
fresh  use  as  little  oil  as  possible,  and  keep  their  colours 
firmer  by  mixing  a  little  oil  of  spike  with  them ;  this 
soon  evaporates,  but  it  makes  the  colours  flow  and  work 
more  easily."  From  a  passage  in  the  Brussels  MS.*  it 
may  be  concluded  that  oil  of  chamomile  was  sometimes 
used  for  the  same  purpose. 

On  the  Purification  and  BUa/^hing  of  Oil. 

There  appears  to  be  no  doubt  that  oil  was  always 
purified  and  bleached  before  the  colours  were  ground 
with  it  It  is,  however,  somewhat  extraordinary  that 
neither  Armenini,  Vasari,  Borghini,  nor  Bisagno  allude 
to  this  fact.  The  precautions  taken  by  Lionardo  da 
Vinci'  for  the  preparation  of  his  oils  are,  however,  well 
known,  and  incidental  allusions  to  the  purification  of 
oil  may  also  be  found  in  Vasari  ®  and  other  authors. 
The  remark  of  the  Gesuato,  at  the  end  of  his  directions 


1  P.  749.  •  Tratado,  p.  392.  3  Fels.  Pitt,  vol.  ii,  p.  460. 

*  Storia  Pittorica,  vol.  v.  p,  105.      *  Prindpes,  &c ,  p.  297.       •  P.  814. 
^  Amoretti,  Memorie  Storiche,  &c.,  di  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  p.  149. 

*  See  account  of  Giovan  Francesco  Caroti,  in  the  Life  of  Fra  Giooondo. 


CHAP.  VI.]  PUKIFICATION  OF  OIL.  CCXXXlU 

for  purifying  oil — "  Observe  that,  whenever  you  find 
oil  mentioned,  this  purified  oil  is  meant"-:— may  be  con- 
sidered proof  of  the  importance  attached  to  this  fact. 
The  recipe  of  the  Gesuato  forms  part  of  the  directions 
for  preparing  ultramarine,'  and  the  oil  was  used  in 
making  the  resinous  pastille  into  which  the  powdered 
ultramarine  was  kneaded,  and  the  colour  worked  out 
into  the  water.  If  it  was  necessary  to  employ  purified 
oil  for  this  purpose,  it  was  much  more  important  to 
procure  such  an  oil  to  mix  with  colours. 

The  Marciana  MS.  directs*  that  purified  oil  should 
be  used  for  mordants,  and  at  the  end  of  the  recipe  gives 
the  following  directions  for  purifying  it : — "  Boil  it 
over  the  fire  with  water  for  three  or  four  hours,  then  let 
it  settle,  and  separate  it  fi'om  the  water."  In  another 
recipe  it  is  said,' — "  Take  linseed-oil,  boiled  in  the 
usual  way ;"  from  which  it  appears  that  the  method  just 
described  was  that  which  was  usually  adopted.  In  the 
same  MS.  it  is  remarked,^  that  if  the  nut  or  linseed- 
oil  is  inspissated  by  exposure  to  the  sun,  the  varnish 
made  with  it  will  be  clearer. 

Palomino  states*  that  all  colours  were  generally 
ground  with  linseed-oil,  because  it  was  more  drying 
than  nut-oil,  which  was  reserved  solely  for  the  blues 
and  whites  in  finishing,  and  especially  for  ultramarine ; 
"  but,"  he  adds,  "  if  nut-oil  cannot  be  obtained,  linseed- 
oil  may  be  clarified  by  putting  it  into  a  vessel  with 
white-lead  in  powder,  stirring  it  well  until  it  is  quite 
white,  and  exposing  it  to  the  sun  and  dew,  stirring  it 
up  every  day,  for  three  days,  then  let  it  be  used, 
because  if  it  is  kept  longer,  it  will  become  fat.  Pacheco's 
method  of  preparing  bleached  linseed-oil,  which  might 
be  used  with  white  and  blue,  was  as  follows  :* — "  Take 
a  glass  vessel,  and  to  one  pound  of  limpid  and  clear 

I  Secret!  di  Don  Alessio,  parte  ii.  f.  62 ;  and  see  Mr.  Eastlake's  *  Mate- 
rW»,'p.827.  «P.  621.  «  Ibid. 

«  P.  636.         »  Museo  Pictorico,  vol.  M  p.  55.  *  Tratado,  p.  893. 


CCXXXIV  INTRODUCTION.  [chap,  vi, 

linseed-oil,  add  three  ounces  of  spirit  of  wine,  and  two 
ounces  of  lavender  flowers,  place  it  in  the  sun  for  fifteen 
days,  shaking  it  twice  every  day,  and  in  this  manner  it 
will  be  purified  and  clear.  Then  pouring  it  into  another 
vessel,  it  may  be  used  for  whites,  blues,  and  flesh  tints." 
Some  time  since  I  tried  this  recipe,  and  found  that  in 
proportion  as  the  oil  lost  its  colour,  the  spirit  of  wine 
acquired  it,  and  the  mucilage  separating,  was  carried  to 
the  bottom  of  the  bottle  with  the  lavender  flowers. 
The  yellow  colour  of  the  spirit  of  wine  may,  perhaps, 
be  accounted  for  by  Ae  fact,  that  a  small  quantity  of 
linseed  oil  is  soluble  in  spirit  of  wine;  four  ounce 
measures  of  spirit  of  wine  dissolve  one  drachm  of 
linseed-oil.^ 

Joannes  Zahn  recommends'  the  following  process  for 
the  clarification  and  bleaching  of  oil  for  painting: — 
"  Take  the  acetous  herb,  which  in  Grerman  is  called 
'  Sauerampffer '  (sorrel),  cut  it  into  tolerably  sized 
pieces,  and  boil  it  in  water  over  the  fire ;  then  strain  it 
through  a  linen  cloth,  put  it  into  a  tin  vessel,  or  into  a 
vase  made  of  iron,  tinned,  which  must  be  prepared  so 
as  to  be  long  and  broad,  but  not  deep.  This  being 
done,  pour  on  to  this  water  tiie  oil  which  is  to  be  clari- 
fied and  bleached,  and  then  put  Ae  vase,  with  the  water 
and  supernatant  oil,  into  a  place  firee  from  dust,  and 
exposed  to  the  hottest  rays  of  the  sun  in  summer  for  a 
few  days ;  in  a  short  time  the  oil  will  deposit  all  its 
impurities,  and  be  wonderfully  clarfied  and  bleached 
by  this  process,  in  the  same  manner  as  wax  and  linen 
are  bleached.  The  oil  thus  prepared  may  be  used  by 
painters,  not  only  for  making  their  colours  more  lively, 
but  also  for  the  preparation  of  the  clearer  and  more 
brilliant  varnishes.'*  Th^s  method  of  purifying  linseed- 
oil  I  have  also  tried,  and  found  it  very  successfiil  in 
removing  Ae  mucilage,  which  is  thrown  down  in  a  few 

»  Henry's  Cberiiistry,  vol.  ii.  p.  226.  «  Ocalus  ArtificialiB,  p.  626. 


CBAF.  ▼!.]  PURIFICATION  OP  OIL.  CCXXXV 

(lays,  and  the  oil  remains  very  clear  and  bright,  and  of 
a  golden  colour:  it  may  afterwards  be  bleached  by 
exposure  to  the  sun. 

The  purification  and  preparation  of  oil  for  painting, 
by  exposure  to  heat  and  washing  with  water,  has  been 
so  fully  treated  by  Mr.  Eastlake,  that  it  will  be  unneces- 
sary to  cite  the  autiiorities  or  repeat  the  processes  he 
has  described.  It  may,  however,  be  interesting  to 
state,  that  I  have  bleached  and  clarified  linseed-oil  by 
the  following  process,  suggested  by  the  directions  of  the 
Gesuato '  and  those  of  Dreme.*  A  bottle  was  filled, 
about  one  third  with  oil,  another  third  with  water;  it 
was  then  corked  and '  shaken,  until  the  water  and  oil 
were  mixed  like  an  emulsion,  when  the  cork  was 
removed,  and  a  piece  of  muslin  tied  over  the  bottle, 
which  was  placed  on  the  boiler  of  a  kitchen-range,*  and 
kept  in  a  moderate  heat  day  and  night.  The  oil  was 
shaken  every  day  (the  muslin  being  first  removed  and 
the  cork  inserted  in  the  bottle)  for  a  few  days,  and  then 
suffered  to  clear.  In  about  a  week  the  oil  was  removed 
fiom  the  water  into  another  bottle,  and  the  process  was 
repeated  for  several  weeks  until  the  water  below  the  oil 
ceased  to  appear  milky,  and  the  oil  itself  was  clear  and 
colourless.  During  this  experiment  I  observed  that  the 
mucilage  was  thrown  down  sooner  if  warm  water  was 
added  to  the  oil  instead  of  cold,  and  that  the  oil 
separated  more  rapidly  from  the  water  when  the  bottle 
was  exposed  to  a  gentle  and  regular  heat,  although  in  a 
dark  situation,  than  when  it  was  placed  in  the  variable 
warmth  of  a  sunny  window.  The  addition  of  salt  or 
sand  accelerates  the  clarification  of  the  oil.  Many 
weeks  are  necessary  to  complete  the  process  of  bleach<«» 
ing  and  purification.  If  the  oil  is  intended  to  remain 
fluid,  it  should  be  preserved  in  bottles  well  stopped.* 

*  See  <  MMterialfl/  &c.,  p.  327.  '  Der  Yirniss-u  Kittmacher,  &c. 

'  Dreme  recommends  that  the  bottle  should  be  suspended  in  an  oven 
modentely  heated.  ^  See  Mr.  Eastlake's  '  Materials,*  &c.,  p.  341. 


OCXXXVi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  tt. 

The  purification  of  oil  will  always  be  attended  with 
much  waste.  It  may  be  considered  that,  with  the 
greatest  care,  nearly  half  will  be  lost  in  the  process. 
The  mucilage  alone  frequently  forms  one-third  of  the  o3. 

Dryers  and  Drying  Oils. 

The  necessity  of  the  colours  drying  quickly,  and  the 
circumstance  of  some  drying  more  rapidly  than  others, 
led  to  the  addition  of  other  ingredients  to  the  oiL 

The  following  observations  will  be  limited  to  the 
drying  ingredients  mentioned  in  the  Treatises  contained 
in  this  work,  and  to  those  adopted  by  the  Italian  and 
Spanish  painters. 

The  earliest  notice  of  drying  oil  which  occurs  in  the 
following  works  is  to  be  found  in  the  MS.  of  Eraclius.* 
In  this  recipe  the  oil  was  boiled  with  lime,*  and  ceruse 
being  then  added,  it  was  placed  in  the  sun  for  a  month 
or  more,  and  frequently  stirred.  The  use  of  white-lead 
as  a  dryer  has  been  continued  to  the  present  day.  It 
was  sometimes  stirred  into  the  oil,  which  was  then 
exposed  to  the  sun  and  dew,  and  well  stirred  every  day 
for  three  d^ys,  when  it  was  ready  for  use.*  If  suffered 
to  remain  longer  than  the  time  specified,  it  would 
become  fat     By  some  modern  Italian  artists  white-lead 


1  P.  232. 

*  The  most  powerful  of  all  dryers  is  perhape  chloride  of  lime  in  a  drj 
state :  a  small  quantity  of  this  added  to  clarified  oil  will  conTert  it  into  a 
solid ;  for  this  reason  it  must  he  employed  very  cautiously.  If  too  much 
be  used,  it  may  bum  the  brushes,  and  injure  the  colours.  It  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  not  darkening  the  oil,  and  its  drying  property  appears  to  arise 
from  its  absorbing  the  watery  particles  of  the  oil.  Chloride  of  calcium  is 
equally  efficacious  as  a  dryer ;  but  the  small  quantity  of  iron  which  it  con- 
tains dissolves  in  the  oil,  and  darkens  it  It  seems  probable  that  if  the 
chloride  of  lime  were  judiciously  employed,  it  might  prove  serviceable 
as  a  dryer ;  but  as  I  am  not  aware  that  it  has  been  tried  as  such  by  sny 
person  but  myself,  the  utmost  caution  would  be  required,  and  some  exp^ 
riments  would  be  necessary  in  order  to  ascertain  the  smallest  possible 
quantity  which  would  answer  the  purpose  intended.  As  a  dryer  for  boitfe 
paint  it  may  perhaps  be  found  useful. 

s  Phlomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  65. 


ciuF.  vij  DRYERS  AND  DRYING  OILS.  CCXXXvii 

is  placed  on  a  strainer,  and  the  oil  is  suffered  to  filter 
through  it,  when  it  is  ready  for  use. 

The  preparation  of  oil  for  painting  is  not  mentioned 
in  the  Bolognese  MS. ;  but  in  two  of  the  recipes  for 
making  "  vernice  liquida "  directions  are  given  for 
rendering  the  oil  drying  previous  to  the  addition  of  the 
resin.  In  No.  207,^  the  oil  is  directed  to  be  boiled 
with  burnt  roche  alum  in  powder,  and  minium  or  ver- 
milion ;  and  after  boiling  a  proper  time  it  is  to  be  set 
fire  to,  and  allowed  to  burn  for  a  short  time,  when  it  is 
to  be  extinguished,  and  again  placed  over  the  fire  and 
burnt  as  before. 

This  is,  probably,  the  only  recipe  for  drying  oil  in 
which  vermilion  is  mentioned ;  but  as  that  pigment  is 
not  known  to  possess  any  peculiarly  siccative  properties^ 
it  may  be  supposed  that  it  was  considered  by  the  writer 
as  synonymous  with  minium  (the  cinnabar  of  the 
ancients),  the  term  applied  to  red-lead  during  the  middle 
ages  throughout  Europe,  and  from  that  time  to  the 
present  in  Italy. 

The  burning  of  the  oil,  recommended  in  this  recipe, 
was  for  the  purpose  of  depriving  it  of  its  imctuosity, 
and  with  this  view  it  is  still  resorted  to  by  the  makers 
of  printing  ink. 

In  the  recipe  No.  262,  in  the  Bolognese  MS.,'  2  lbs. 
of  common  oil,  that  is,  olive-oil,  and  2  lbs.  of  linseed- 
oil  are  boiled  with  30  or  40  cloves  of  garlic,  until, 
on  dipping  a  hen's  feather  into  the  oil,  it  is  found  to 
be  burnt.  This  trial  with  the  feather  is  still  the  common 
test  of  the  oil's  being  sufficiently  boiled.  The  use  of 
the  garlic  was  probably  to  supply  moisture  to  the  oil, 
and  thus  prevent  its  carbonization.  Garlic  is  mentioned 
as  an  ingredient  in  drying  oil  or  fat  oil  by  Pacheco 
and  Palomino;  and  according  to  the  former  the  oil 
was  boiled   until   the    garlic   was    burnt   or  toasted.' 

»  P.  4S9.  «  p.  621.  »  Tralado,  p.  404. 


CCXXXVlii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  yi. 

Garlic  yields  a  gelatinous  juice,  which  does  not  appear 
to  be  miscible  with  oil.  Pacheco  also  mentions  as  dryers, 
minium  and  white  lead,  which  if  added  to  oil,  and 
placed  in  a  glass  vessel  in  the  sun  in  summer,  for 
fifteen  days,  stirring  it  every  day,  and  then  straining  it^ 
would  be  very  good. 

According  to  Lebrun,*  drying  oil  was  prepared  by 
suspending  a  piece  of  rag  containing  umber  and  minium 
in  a  vessel  with  nut-oil,  and  boiling  it.  The  mordants 
described  in  the  Paduan  MS.,*  and  in  the  *  Riposo'  of 
Borghini  (p.  176),  greatly  resemble  this  drying  oil. 
In  the  first,  ochre  is  added  to  the  other  ingredients ;  in 
the  second,  giallorino,  calcined  bones,  and  burnt  vitriol ; 
w^hich  Borghini  says  is  to  be  "  calcined  in  the  fire  until  it 
is  red ;  and  this  vitriol  makes  all  colours  which  are  natu- 
rally bad  dryers  siccative,  although  it  discolours  them."' 

Besides  white-lead  and  minium,  litharge,  the  semi- 
vitrified  oxide  of  lead,  was  employed  as  a  dryer  for  oil. 
Volpato  gives*  directions  for  preparing  olio  cottOj  by 
boiling  it  on  litharge,  but  he  does  not  specify  the  propor- 
tion of  litharge.  The  Jesuit,  Father  Lana,^  recom- 
mends, for  this  purpose,  two  ounces  of  litharge  for  each 
pound  of  oil.  Lebrun  calls*  this  preparation  "huile 
grasse,"  fat  oil,  which  he  distinguishes  from  drying  oil. 

Lebrun  also  remarks,  that  the  litharge  might  be 
ground  on  the  porphyry  with  oil,  made  into  a  little  ball 
and  dried  When  required  for  use  it  was  to  be  boiled 
until  the  litharge  was  dissolved,  and,  when  cold,  the  oil 
was  said  to  become  as  clear  as  rock- water.  This  oil 
was  considered  very  good  as  a  siccative  for  those  colours 
which  did  not  dry  well,  such  as  lakes,  black,''  &c 
When  used  for  painting  on  glass,  the  proportion  of 
litharge  was  much  increased :  thus  the  Paduan  MS.^ 

1  P.  816.  «  P.  692. 

3  Burnt  vitriol  is  sulphate  of  iron  cal'^ined.     Iron  is  to  a  certain  extent 
soluble  in  oil,  v^hich  it  renders  dark.  4  P.  741.  *  P.  746,  n. 

6  P.  816.  '  P.  818.  8  p.  692. 


CHAP.  VI.]  DRYERS  AND  DRYING  OILS.  CCXXXIX 

prescribes  half  a  pound  of  this  ingredient  to  a  pound  of 
oil ;  but  for  pictures  this  cannot  be  recommended.  The 
recipe  for  "  olio  cotto,"  given  by  Fra  Fortunato,  differs 
from  these  recipes  in  directing  the  addition  of  water, 
which  is  to  be  boiled  with  the  litharge  and  oil,  which 
he  says  will  cause  the  oil  to  become  as  clear  (colourless) 
as  water  itself.^ 

In  the  appendix  to  the  Italian  edition  of  *  L'Idfee  du 
Peintre  Parfait '  of  De  Piles,  drying  oil  is  described  as 
composed  of  nut-oil  boiled  with  litharge  and  sandarac. 
This  composition  is  in  fact  identical  with  the  old  "  ver- 
nice  liquida."  It  differs  but  little  from  the  mordant  of 
Cennini,*  which  consisted  of  linseed  oil,  vernice  (dry 
sandarac),  and  white  lead.  In  the  former,  the  dryer 
was  litharge ;  in  the  latter,  white  lead. 

In  the  time  of  Baldinucci,  olio  cotto  was  prepared  by 
boiUng  linseed  or  nut-oil,  either  alone,  or  with  litharge 
or  glass,  finely  ground  with  water.  It  is  stated  by  this 
author  to  have  been  used  to  temper  those  colours  which 
are  slow  in  drying,  such  as  lake,  terra  nera,  bone,  and 
other  blacky,  because  both  litharge  and  ground  glass 
have  the  property  of  making  them  dry  quickly.  Oil, 
boiled  without  either  of  these  ingredients,  was  used  to 
accelerate  the  drying  of  those  colours,  which  dry  well 
of  themselves,  such  as  white  lead,  minium,  terra  verde, 
umber,  cinnabar,  smalti,  and  others ;  but  if  used  with 
white  lead  it  would  become  yellow.  "  Pure  boiled  oil,** 
continues  Baldinucci,  "  when  it  is  prepared  with  very 
clear  oil,  is  also  used  by  painters  instead  of  varnish  in 
the  darkest  shades,  and  where  the  colours  have  sunk  in. 
And  remember,  that  raw  nut  and  linseed  oil  are  by 
nature  drying,  but  they  do  not  dry  so  soon  as  when 


* ''  Per  far  V  olio  cotto  da  Pittore,  che  sia  chiaro,  come  acqua.  Metti  il 
solito  ptamazzolo  col  litar^rio,  et  altro  come  si  usa  dentro  1'  oglio  di  noce,  o 
di  lino,  a  bollire,  e  con  esso  mettivi  seco  dell'  acqua  abollire,  che  qiiesta  la 
fara  rimaner  chiaro,  come  T  acqua  medeaima." 

>  TratUto,  cap.  151.' 


ccxl  INTBODUCTION.  [chap.  ti. 

boiled,  and  especially  as  when  mixed  with  ground  glass 
and  litharge.*'  ^ 

Yolpato  also  recommends '  that  ^^  olio  cotto "  and 
verdigris  should  be  mixed  with  asphaltum  and  black  to 
make  them  dry. 

An  eminent  professor  of  painting  at  Venice  stated 
that  Chilone,  an  old  Venetian  painter,  who  died  about 
the  year  1834  or  1836,  was  acquainted  with  Canal' 
and  Canaletto,^  and  that  Chilone  said  these  two  artists 
used  oil  boiled  on  litharge,  which  they  recommended 
him  to  use  also,  and  that  they  frequently  spread  it  over 
the  whole  picture. 

It  appears  certain  then  from  the  above  evidence,  that 
the  preparations  of  lead  were  the  dryers  most  approved 
in  Italy,  but  it  may  be  collected  from  an  expression  of 
Padre  Lana's  that  some  doubts  had  been  raised  as  to 
their  eligibility  for  this  purpose.  Speaking  of  oil  boiled 
on  litharge,  Lana  says,  ^^  This  application  is  not  so  in- 
jurious as  some  persons  have  imagined ;  and  the  advan- 
tage is,  that  it  dries  quickly,  for  raw  oil  is  a  long  time 
in  drying.**  There  can  be .  no  doubt,  however,  that 
litharge  is  injurious  to  those  colours  which  are  incom- 
patible with  lead,  such  as  Indian  lake  and  orpiment 

The  mixture  of  ground  glass  with  colours  as  a  dryer 
is  not,  that  I  am  aware  of,  mentioned  in  Italian  works 
written  earlier  than  the  seventeenth  century :  the  Paduan 
MS.*  and  Baldipucci*s  *  Vocabulary  of  Design  *  appear 
to  be  the  only  Italian  authorities  for  it,  although  it 
may  have  been  common  at  the  time  these  works 
were  written.  The  practice  probably  originated  in  the 
ancient  custom  of  mixing  pulverised  glass  with  orpi- 
ment, with  the  object,  as  some  authors  say,  of  making 
it  grind   more  easily;    others  say,  of  making  it  dry 

*  Vocabolario  del  Disegno.  •  P.  747. 

s  Fabio  Canal  was  bom  in  1703,  and  died  in  1767. 
4  The  real  name  of  Canaletto  was  Antonio  Canal.     He  died  m  1768) 
•ged71.  6  P.  666. 


CHAP.  VI.]  DRYERS  AND  DRYING  OILS.  CCxli 

better.  For  the  latter  purpose  it  was  employed  by 
Pacheco,  who  remarks  ^  that  when  orpiment  was  ground 
with  linseed  oil,  it  required  a  dryer,  and  that  some 
persons  added  to  it  glass  ground  with  water ;  others 
added  linseed  oil  which  has  been  suffered  to  fatten  by 
mixing  with  it  red  lead  in  powder.  Others,  he  adds, 
use  a  proper  quantity  of  white  copperas  in  powder ;  but 
he  warns  his  readers  to  beware  of  verdigris,  which  is  its 
greatest  enemy.  Pacheco  also  recommends,*  as  a  dryer 
for  carmine,  either  ground  glass  or  litharge  in  powder, 
or  a  little  of  the  fat  oil  (with  minium)  before  mentioned, 
or  white  copperas  tempered  with  oil,  or  added  in  pow- 
der. 

Ground  glass  appears  to  have  been  a  favourite  dryer 
with  Palomino,  who  says '  that  it  was  excellent  for  all 
colours,  and  that  it  might  be  ground  with  nut  or  linseed 
oil  like  one  of  the  colours,  and  preserved  in  a  bladder, 
and  a  little  put  on  the  palette  when  necessary.  This 
author  describes^  a  drying  oil  for  blues  and  whites, 
composed  of  ground  glass,  litharge,  white  lead,  and  red 
lead,  of  each  one  ounce,  and  half  a  pound  of  oil,  boiled 
for  a  short  time  together  in  a  water  bath.  Ground 
glass  also  forms  one  of  the  ingredients  in  a  recipe 
given  by  the  same  author  for  drying  oil,  which,  from 
being  boiled  longer,  appears  to  have  been  of  a  darker 
colour. 

The  mixture  of  pulverized  glass  with  colours  is  scarcely 
to  be  recommended,  because  a  part  of  the  alkali,  which 
is  free,  is  liable  to  be  acted  on  by  the  air  and  other 
causes.^  That  the  alkali  is  free,  may  be  ascertained  by 
merely  boiling  some  powdered  glass  in  water ;  on  dip- 
ping turmeric  paper  into  the  water,  the  paper  will  be 

found  to  have  acquired  a  brown  stain.     The  ill  effects 

^— —  —       ■  1 1.       -       _ 

1  Tretado,  p.  388.  >  Ibid.,  p.  390. 

»  Vol.  ii.  p.  66.  *  Vol.  ii.  p.  66. 

*  Sec  an  article  in  the  Magazine  of  Science,  vol.  iv.  p.  67,  "  On  the  action 
of  water  on  powdered  glass.*' 

VOL.  I.  q 


ccxlii  INTRODUCTION.  [cbaf,  tt. 

liable  to  ensue  from  the  presence  of  salts  in  pictures 
have  been  described  by  Mr.  Smith  in  the  First  Report 
of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Fine  Arts :  they  are  also 
alluded  to  by  De  Files,^  by  Lanzi^  in  a  note  on  Cor- 
reggio's  method  of  painting,  and  by  Mr.  Eastlake/ 
The  glass  made  in  Venice  contained  lead ;  when  this 
glass  was  ground  and  mixed  with  colours,  the  lead 
probably  acted  on  the  oil  as  a  dryer,  and  would  affect 
the  colours  in  the  same  way  as  other  preparations  of 
lead.  In  this  point  of  view,  therefore,  glass  can  scarcely 
be  an  eligible  dryer  for  orpiment,  which  is  decomposed 
by  lead.  Manganese  was  another  ingredient  in  Italian 
glass ;  but  as  the  native  oxide  of  manganese  is  not 
found  pure,  but  is  contaminated  with  iron,  lead,  and 
copper,  it  may  be  conjectured  that  these  metals  formed 
part  of  the  glass.  The  manganese  of  Piedmont  was 
considered  by  Neri  to  be  purer  than  that  of  Tus- 
cany and  Liguria;  the  latter  contained  much  iron, 
which  gave  the  glass  a  dark  hue,  but  it  is  still  probable 
that  the  manganese  of  Piedmont  contained  the  other 
metals,  which  cannot  be  a  desirable  addition  to  colours^ 
especially  as  oils  are  known  to  act  on  copper  and  iron. 
If  pounded  glass  has  really  any  drying  property  (and  it 
must  be  supposed  that  it  was  not  classed  among  dryers 
without  due  consideration),  this  property  may  be  attri- 
buted to  the  metals  it  contains,  which  are  in  the  state 
of  oxides. 

There  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  white  copperas 
(sulphate  of  zinc),  which  is  mentioned  as  a  dryer  by 
Flemish  and  German  writers  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
was  the  dryer  of  Van  Eyck.  We  owe  this  discovery 
to  the  research  of  Mr.  Eastlake.^ 

With  the  exception  of  Padre  Vincente  Goronelli, 
white  copperas  does  not  appear  to  be  mentioned  by  any 


1  EUmens,  p.  1 4 1 .         >  Vol.  i?.  p.  7 1 ,  n.         '  Meterialf,  &G.,  p.  424,  n. 
«  See  Materials,  &c.,  p.  130,  136, 284,  29^,  311,  365-367. 


CHAP.  Tj.]  DRYERS  AND  DRYING  OILS.  ccxliii 

Italian  author  as  an  ingredient  in  drying  oil ;  but  it 
was  employed  in  Italy  in  the  composition  of  a  mordant 
for  painting  on  glass  by  a  Venetian  friar/  about  150 
years  previous  to  the  date  of  Coronelli's  work.  This 
mordant  is  described  in  the  Marciana  MS.:*  it  con- 
sisted of  white  copperas,  mastic,  dry  sandarac,  and 
roche*alum,  ground  in  purified  linseed  oil.  As  a  mor- 
dant for  gold,  the  efTects  of  this  composition  could  not 
have  been  very  durable,  since  it  is  recommended  that 
vessels  on  which  it  was  applied  should  be  washed  with 
cold  water  only,  and  rubbed  or  wiped  very  gently. 
Copperas  is  mentioned  as  an  ingredient  in  a  mordant 
for  gilding,  and  as  a  dryer,  by  Pacheco,'  who  recom- 
mends it  for  orpiment  and  carmine ;  and  by  Palomino,^ 
who  remarks  that  it  may  be  ground  with  oil,  and  placed 
on  the  palette  like  a  colour :  he  says  that  burnt  alum 
may  be  added  to  it,  but  that  he  has  not  tried  this  dryer. 
De  Piles  also  states  ^  that  copperas  ground  in  oil  was 
used  as  a  dryer  for  lake  and  ultramarine,  but  he  ex- 
presses a  doubt  whether,  on  account  of  its  being  a  salt, 
it  may  not,  in  drying,  cover  the  picture  with  a  white 
efflorescence,  especially  in  damp  situations.  There  can 
be  little  doubt  that  the  objection  of  De  Piles  was  well 
founded.  It  has  been  already  observed  that  the  intro- 
duction of  any  salt  into  the  colours  must  always  be 
prejudicial,  and  there  seems  no  reason  to  make  an 
exception  io  favour  of  sulphate  of  zinc.  The  same 
objection  does  not  apply  to  the  addition  of  this  substance 
to  drying-oil :  on  the  contrary,  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  calcined  sulphate  of  zinc  and  the  oxide  of  zinc  are 
the  safest  of  all  metallic  dryers.' 

^  It  U  wery  probable,  as  was  suggested  to  me  by  a  friend,  that  this  "  fra- 
tre  Veneuano  *'  was  Fra  Seliastian  del  Piombo,  who  was  a  oative  of  Yenioe. 
If  this  be  the  fact,  it  affords  additional  reason  for  considering  that  copperas 
was  the  dryer  of  Van  Eyck,  inasmuch  as  Fra  Sebastian  was  the  pupil  of 
Gian  Bellioo,  who  was  contemporary  with  Antonello  da  Messina. 

•  R  621.  «  Tratado,  p.  3S8,  890,  41S.  *  Vol.  ii..  p.  66. 

*  £l6mens,  p.  140.  «  See  Mr.  EasUake's  '  Materials,*  &c.,  p.  349. 

q2 


ccxliv  INTRODUCTION.  [chip.  m. 

Verdigris  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  dryers,  and 
its  effects  have  long  been  known.  Cennini  mentions  * 
it  as  promoting  the  drying  of  mordants.  Armenini, 
and  his  copyist  Bisagno,  and  De  Piles,*  recommend  its 
being  added  to  black,  Volpato  ^  to  black  and  asphaltiira, 
and  Palomino  ^  to  black  and  carmine.  But  its  drying 
properties  appear  to  be  more  than  counterbalanced  by 
others  which  are  highly  injurious  to  many  pigments, 
and  cautions  may  be  found  in  several  writers  against 
the  injudicious  use  of  it  De  Piles  *  remarks  that  it  is 
the  plague  of  all  the  colours,  and  that  if  the  smallest 
particle  were  to  be  mixed  with  the  priming,  it  might 
destroy  the  whole  picture. 

There  is  another  dryer  mentioned  by  Italian  v^iters 
which  can  only  be  used  in  dark  primings  or  mordants : 
this  is  the  dirty  oil  pressed  from  the  brushes  into  a  tin 
vessel  kept  for  this  purpose.  Volpato  says,^  "  this  dries 
like  a  mordant  even  in  winter."  Lebrun  remarks' 
that  this  oil  may  be  used  for  the  dead-colouring  or  for 
the  priming ;  Borghini  mentions  ^  it  as  an  ingredient  in 
a  mordant. 

Calcined  bones,  which  were  so  much  used  by  the 
Flemish  painters,  do  not  appear  to  have  been  employed 
to  promote  the  drying  of  oil  by  the  Italians,  although 
they  are  mentioned  as  an  ingredient  in  a  mordant  by 
Borghini.* 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  from  the  above-mentioned 
authorities,  that  the  dryers  named  in  works  of  art  as 
most  commonly  used  in  Italy,  from  the  earliest  period 
until  the  present  time,  were  preparations  of  lead. 

Mastic,  which  has  always  been  so  much  used  in  var- 
nish, has  from  a  very  early  period  been  considered  a 
dryer.      Mr.   Eastlake   gives***   two  instances,  one  of 

1  Tnittoto,  cap.  151,  152.  >  Elemens,  p.  125. 

«  P.  747.  *  Vol.  ii.  p.  56.  »  El^mens,  p.  124. 

•  P.  732.         f  P.  770.  8  Ripojo,  p.  176.  »  Ibid.,  p.  176. 

«  10  Materials,  &c.,  p.  172,  n. 


CHAP.  VI.]  ESSENTIAL  OILS.  ccxlv 

which  is  from  the  Lucca  MS.,  the  other  from  the  Ve- 
netian MS.  A  solution  of  mastic  in  nut  oil  is  recom- 
mended by  Errante  *  as  the  only  eligible  dryer.  This 
fact  naturally  leads  to  the  consideration  of  the  varnishes 
used  with  colours  in  Italy,  and  of  the  resins  of  which 
they  were  composed.  Before  entering  on  this  subject, 
I  shall  offer  a  few  observations  on  some  of  the  essential 
oils  used  in  painting. 

Essential  Oils. 

The  purity  of  the  essential  oils  is  not  less  requisite 
than  that  of  the  other  materials.  Mr.  Eastlake  ob- 
serves '  that  "  their  drying  property  is  in  proportion  to 
their  rectification,  and  that  the  lasting  purity  of  their 
tint  may  partly  depend  on  the  same  circumstance.** 

Essential  oils  should  be  kept  in  close  vessels,  and 
excluded  from  light  By  long  exposure  to  air  and 
light,  volatile  oils  become  thick,  and  darker  in  colour, 
and  assume  the  appearance  of  resins. 

The  essential  oils  commonly  used  in  painting  were 
naphtha,  spirit  or  oil  of  turpentine,  and  oil  of  spike. 
The  first  of  these  is  considered  to  have  been  employed 
in  painting  by  the  ancient  Egyptians.' 

Oil  of  spike  should  be  the  foreign  oil  of  lavender  ; 
but  what  is  usually  sold  as  such  is  a  mixture  of  three 
parts  oil  of  turpentine  and  one  part  oil  of  spike.* 
These  ingredients  are  sometimes  rectified  together. 
English  oil  of  lavender  is  sold  for  a  guinea  a  pound, 
while  oil  of  spike  may  be  purchased  for  twelve  or 
fourteen  shillings  the  pound. 

The  naphtha,  used  by  the  Italian  painters  for  dilut- 
ing their  colours  and  varnishes,  was  a  natural  produc- 
tion of  many  parts  of  Italy,  particularly  of  the  territo- 
ries of  Modeua    and   Parma.      It  is   also   found   in 


I  Saggb  fui  Colori,  &c.  *  Materials,  &c.,  p.  313. 

*  See  D'Agincourt,  vol.  ii.  p.  2. 
^  See  Rennie's  Supplement  to  the  Pharmacopoeias. 


ccxlvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.vi. 

Bohemia,  Persia,  and  in  Colebrooke  Dale  in  Shrop- 
shire ;  but  th«  finest  specimens  are  fiirnished  by  Italy. 
Naphtha,  like  turpentine,  should  be  rectified  before  it 
is  used  for  painting  or  varnishes.^  The  naphtha  of  tiie 
shops  is  distilled  from  wood;  but  it  probably  diflfers 
considerably  from  the  native  naphtha,  which  is  used 
by  chemists  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  potassium,  for 
which  the  wood  naphtha  is  entirely  unfit  The  native 
naphtha,  therefore,  should  be  procured  for  painting. 
It  is  said  to  be  the  purest  and  most  unchangeable  of  the 
essential  oils.' 

While  mentioning  essential  oils,  it  will  be  proper  to 
allude  briefly  to  the  volatile  oil  of  linseed  or  nuts,  which 
was  occasionally  used  in  diluting  varnishes. 

The  earliest  notice  of  distilled  linseed  oil  is  probably 
that  which  occurs  in  the  old  part  of  the  Bolognese 
MS.,'  (written  previously  to  the  introduction  of  the 
Flemish  process  of  oil-painting  into  Italy,)  in  a  recipe 
for  making  artificial  stones  for  rings.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  although  the  distilled  oil  in  this  case  was 
not  used  for  painting,  yet  it  is  stated  by  the  author  that 
any  pigment  put  into  it  will  retain  its  colour  for  ever. 

Yasari's  account  of  the  singular  experiments,  as  he 
calls  them,  of  Lionardo  da  Vinci  on  oils  and  varnish, 
is  not  conclusive  evidence  that  he  distilled  linseed  and 
nut  oils,  or  either  of  them ;  he  merely  states  that  he 
distilled  oils  and  herbs  to  make  varnishes  '*  and  this  may 
be  true  with  regard  to  the  olio  di  trementina  and  olio 
di  spigo,  as  well  as  to  linseed  and  nut  oil.  The  passage 
in  Lomazzo's 'Tempio  della  Pittura**  is  rather  more 
definite ;  but  even  this  is  not  conclusive.  In  speaking 
of  Lionardo,  he  says,  "  della  tempera,  passo  all'  olio, 
il  quale  usava  di  assotigliar  con  i  lambicchi,  onde  e 


1  Verri,  Saggio,  Sec.,  p.  1S8. 

«  Mr.  Eastlake's  *  Material/  «tc.,  p.  814.  »  P.  607. 

^  *'  Commci6  a  stillare  oli  ed  erbe  per  fare  la  veniice."     See  Life  of 
Lionardo  da  Vinci.  *  P.  49. 


cHAP.Ti.]  ESSENTIAL  OII^.  ccxlvii 

causato  ehe  quasi  tutte  le  opere  sue  si  sono  spiecate  dai 
Diuriy  sioeome  fra  1'  altre  si  vcde  nel  consiglio  di  Fio- 
renza  la  mirabile  battaglia,  e  in  Milano  la  Cena  di 
Cbristo  in  Sta«  Maria  delle  Gratie  che  sono  guaste  per 
r  imprematura  cbe  ^li  gli  diede  sotto." 

Besides  the  passages  in  Yasari  and  Jjomazzo,  which 
attribute  to  Lionardo  the  use  of  distilled  oil,  there  is 
the  recipe  in  the  *  Secreti '  of  Alessio/  which  is  con- 
clusive as  to  the  £Etct  that  linseed  oil  was  distilled  and 
used  to  dilute  amber  varnish.  This  recipe  has  been 
copied  by  Wecker,*  by  Bonanni,  and  by  Salmon  in  his 
*  Polygraphices.'  It  is  stated  that  this  varnish  was  to 
be  applied  on  pictures  or  figures,  "  sopra  alle  figure." 

Another  notice  of  linseed  oil,  distilled  with  other 
ingredients,  occurs  in  the  ^Nuovo  Flicto/'  In  this 
recipe  linseed  oil,  vernice  liquida,  roche-alum,  nitre, 
Roman  vitriol,  and  mastic  are  boiled  together,  and 
afterwards  distilled.  The  water  which  comes  over  is 
said  to  be  good  for  tempering  colours  in  miniature- 
painting,  and  for  staining  or  dyeing  linen  and  other 
things.  It  must  be  kept  closely  corked,  otherwise  it 
will  evaporate. 

The  faet,  therefore,  of  linseed  and  nut  oil  being  used 
in  painting,  except  fisr  miniatures,  appears  to  rest  on 
the  inconclusive  testimony  of  Yasari  and  Lomazzo  that 
it  was  used  by  Lionardo  da  Yinci ;  at  the  same  time  it 
will  not  escape  notice  that  both  these  authors,  who 
ware  painters,  and  undoubtedly  acquainted  with  the 
method  practised  at  the  time  they  lived,  disapproved 
of  tiie  processes  of  Lionardo,  which  they  evidently 
considered  unusual.  As  a  mere  -diluent,  distilled  lin- 
seed or  nut  oil  when  rectified,  and  no  longer  subject  to 
crystallise  at  a  low  temperature,^  may  not  be  more 
objectionable  than  spirit  of  turpentine,  oil  of  spike,  or 

1  Ptft  ii.  p.  74.  >  De  Secretis,  lib.  xvi.  p.  643.  >  P.  76,  77. 

<  At  the  teroperatiue  of  40"  of  Fahrenheit  distilled  linseed  oil  is  con- 
verted into  a  mass  of  needle-shaped  crystals. 


''"^"^^i^^^^^^^^^^'^^^^^^^— ^^^^^^^^^"^^M^W^^^^^*"      ■  ■  ■■■II 


ccxlviii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ti. 

naphtha ;  but  the  circumstance  of  its  being  so  rarely 
mentioned  by  writers  on  painting,  when  so  many  must 
have  been  acquainted  with  it,  suggests  the  idea  that  it 
was  not  in  general  use. 

Some  caution  is  necessary  in  using  these  essential 
oils  either  with  varnish  or  colours  upon  paint  that  is  not 
thoroughly  dry,  lest  they  should  disturb  the  colours,^ 
for  they  are  all  powerful  solvents.  Oil  of  spike  and  oil 
of  turpentine  are  frequently  used  by  picture  cleaners 
to  dissolve  dirty  varnishes,  and  they  often  bring  away 
the  glazings  which  have  been  applied  with  an  essential 
oil  varnish,  as  well  as  the  varnish  itself. 

liesins. 

Turpentine  and  Resin. — By  turpentine,  trementina, 
and  terebinthina  is  understood  the  resinous  liquid 
which  flows  from  many  kinds  of  trees ;  when  this  liquid 
is  hardened  by  the  sun,  or  by  fire,  it  is  called  resins 
ragiaj  or  colophony. 

The  turpentine  of  Dioscorides  appears  to  have  been 
what  is  now  called  Chio  turpentine,  the  produce  of 
the  Pistacia  terebinthus  of  Linnseus ;  the  Terebinthina 
pistacina,  OS.  We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining 
whether  this  was  the  turpentine  mentioned  in  mediseval 
MSS.,  for  Matthioli  relates  *  that  in  his  time  the  im- 
portation of  it  had  ceased  for  so  long  a  period  that  the 
remembrance  of  it  was  almost  lost,  and  the  resin  of  the 
larch  had  been  introduced  in  its  place,  and  had  usurped 
its  name.  This  author,  however,  states  that  the  real 
turpentine  tree  grew  plentifully  at  Trent,  and  in  several 
parts  of  Italy.  He  also  remarks  that,  although  this 
was  the  best  kind  of  turpentine,  it  had  only  recently 
(Matthioli's  work  was  published  in  1549)  been  brought 
to  Venice.  It  was  first  imported  in  the  dry  state,  but 
it  was  afterwards  brought   in   abundance  liquid  as  it 

1  See  De  Piles,  El^mens  de  Petnture,  p.  167.    De  MbsmmiI,  Art  of  Paint- 
ing, p.  25.  s  Di(Mc.,  p.  126. 


mm^ 


CHAP.  VI.]  RBSINS.  ccxlix 

exuded  irom  the  tree.  Laguna  mentions  ^  that  Venice 
was  supplied  with  the  best  kind  of  turpentine  from 
Cy]xiis ;  but  it  was  so  much  adulterated  that  out  of  one 
barrel  were  made  twenty.  When,  therefore,  turpen- 
tine and  larch  resin  are  both  mentioned  in  early  me- 
dieval MSS.,  as  in  the  chapter  de  Lucide  ad  Luddas  in 
the  Lucca  MS.,  the  turpentine  may  be  considered  to 
have  been  of  the  kind  mentioned  by  Dioscorides ;  but 
where  turpentine  only  is  spoken  of,  the  point  is  doubt- 
fiil.  At  a  later  period,  and  until  a  few  years  previous 
to  1549,  trementina  may  be  understood  in  the  works 
of  Italian  writers  to  signify  the  turpentine  of  the  larch. 
In  this  sense,  perhaps,  the  trementina  and  terebinthina 
of  the  Bolognese  MS,  (in  which  larch  resin  is  not 
mentioned)  are  to  be  understood. 

Venice  Turpentine. — Matthioli  states  that  the  produce 
of  the  Finns  larix  (larice  of  the  Italians,  m^l^ze  of  the 
French,  the  larch),  called  turpentine  of  tlie  larch  and 
Venice  turpentine,  was  formerly  called  ^^  laricina.** 
His  account  of  this  resin  is  as  follows : — 

*^  There  is  also  extracted  from  the  larch  that  liquid 
and  excellent  resin  which  is  called  ^  terebinthina  '  in  all 
the  druggists*  shops  in  Italy,  because  it  superseded 
that  which  is  extracted  from  the  terebinthino ;  for  the 
merchants  having  ceased  to  import  the  terebinthina,  the 
physicians  brought  into  use  instead  of  it  that  which  is 
produced  by  the  larch,  whence  it  acquired  the  name  of 
turpentine  (terebinthina).  Nevertheless  Fuchsio,  in 
his  last  book  on  the  Composition  of  Medicines,  was 
mistaken  when  he  wrote  that  the  apothecaries  now  use 
mstead  of  the  true  terebinthina  nothing  but  the  liquid 
resin  of  the  abeto  (Finns  picea  of  Linnseus),  which  we 
call  tears  (lagrime),  for  it  is  known  to  all  the  world 
that  the  common  terebinthina  now  in  use  is  not  ex- 
tracted from  any  other  tree  but  the  larch The 

I  Diosc.  ilustrado  porel  Doct.  Laguna.    Salamanca,  1570. 


ccl  INTBODUCTION.  [chap,  vl 

peasants  inhabiting  those  mountains  call  this  liquor 
largh^  from  the  larch  (larice),  whence  it  exudes.^ 
This  kind  of  turpentine  is  called  "  largata "  by  Zuaue 
Mariani,'  and  it  appears  to  have  been  the  only  sort  of 
turpentine  imported  into  Venice  in  1567- 

The  liquid  resin  which  was  sold  in  France  under  the 
name  of  tferfebenthine  de  Venise,  was  procured  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Lyons;  and  Pomet  says*  that  it 
should  rather  be  called  ^*  t6r6benthine  fine  du  bois  de 
Pilatre  ou  de  Lyon/  The  Lyonnais  called  it  hijon ;  but 
at  Rouen  it  was  called  hemiz.  At  the  present  time  much 
of  this  resin  is  brought  from  the  confines  of  Brian9on/ 

Olio  di  Abezzo,  Strassburg  Turpentine^  Gonime  du 
Sapin. — The  resin  which  exudes  from  the  Terebinthina 
abietina,  Ofll,  the  Pinus  picea  of  Linnseus,  the  abete 
of  the  Italians,  the  sapin  of  the  French,  is  the  Resina 
sapini  of  the  Lucca  MS.  and  Clavicula  (p.  54).  *^The 
abete  produces  that  most  excellent  liquor  commonly 
called  tears  (lagrime),  or  olio  di  abezzo. ,  ....  It  is 
frequently  adulterated  witfi  the  resin  of  die  larch, 
which  is  not  so  dear  as  the  olio  di  abezaso,  and  some- 
times when  the  larch  resin  is  very  clear  and  limpid  it 
is  sold  for  the  real  olio  di  abezzo ;  for  few  apothecaries 
know  one  from  the  other.  But  the  fraud  mav  be 
detected,  first,  because  tiie  olio  di  abezzo  is  much  more 
liquid,  and  also  because  it  has  an  agreeaUe  odour,  and 
is  mtich  more  bitter  to  the  taste  than  the  larch  resin ; 
and  when  it  is  more  than  a  year  old,  it  acquires  a  yel- 
lowish colour,  and  becomes  somewhat  solid/*  *  The 
Marciana  MS.  mentions  ^  that  genuine  olio  di  abezEO 
may  be  distinguished  by  its  drying  rapidly ;  but  when 
it  is  mixed  with  turpentine  it  dries  very  slowly. 


1  Matthioli,  p.  118. 

?  Seo  Tarifik  Perpetaa  di  Zuane  Mariuii,  Venetia,  1667. 

'  Histoire  des  Drogues,  vol.  ii.  p.  62. 

4  Diz.  delle  Droghe  di  Cheyulier  e  Richard.     Venezia,  1831. 

ft  Matthioli,  p.  120.  «  P.  696. 


cflAP.  ▼!.]  KESINS.  ccli 

Resin^  Resin  of  the  Pine,  Gomme  de  Pin,  Bordeaux 
Turpentine. — This  is  the  produce  of  the  Terebinthina 
pinea,  the  Pinus  maritima,  a  variety  of  the  Pinus  syl- 
vestris,  the  Pinus  abies  of  Linnaeus.^  Whenever  the 
word  ^  ragia  "  occurs  in  Italian  writers,  the  resin  of  the 
pme  is  always  to  be  understood.'  This  resin  is  firmer 
and  more  solid  than  that  of  the  larch  or  the  abete. 
When  this  resin  has  been  purified  by  melting  it  in  the 
sun,  and  suffering  it  to  run  through  the  small  holes 
perforated  in  t^  bottom  of  the  vessel  containing  it,  it 
is  considered  equal  in  quality  to  JStrassburg  turpen- 
tine. When  it  is  purified  by  melting  it  over  the  fire, 
and  straining  it  through  straw,  it  is  called  *^  yellow 
pitch  or  resin,"  "  white  pitch,**  and  "  Burgundy  pitch.'* 
If  the  residuum  left  after  the  distillation  of  spirit  of 
turpentine  be  stirred  briskly  widi  water,  it  loses  its 
transparency,  and  acquires  a  dark  yellow  ccdour.  In 
this  state  it  is  called  "  yellow  resin  or  jritch."' 

Pierre  Pomet  states  that  it  was  called  in  France 
"  barras,**  or  "  galipot,'*  and  that  there  were  two  kinds, 
one  of  which  was  called  "encens  blanc,"  the  other 
"encens  marbrfe."  The  incense  usually  burnt  in 
chorches  is  the  produce  of  the  Pinus  abies.^ 

Pece  Greca^  or  Greek  Pitch,  Pece  Spagnuoloj  or  di 
Spaffna,  Pegola  di  Spagna,  Colophony. — The  signifi- 
cation of  these  terms  cannot  be  better  explained  than 
in  the  words  of  Matthioli:^ — "What  is  commonly 
called  pece  di  Spagna,  pece  Greca,  and  colophonia  by 
the  apoAecaries  is  nothing  but  resin  boiled  in  the  man- 
ner described  by  Dioscorides.  These  naaies  were  de- 
rived from  tbe  places  whence  they  were  brought.  But 
there  was  another  kind  of  colophonia  described  by 
Dioscorides,  which  was  liquid,  and  which  was  called, 
par  excellence,  colophonia.     This  was  very  scarce  and 

J  Trattato deUe Droghe  Semplici, da  Guibourt,  iii.  p.  412.    «  Ricett.  Fior. 

»  Trattato  delle  Droghe,  da  Guibourt,  p.  415. 
*  Humboldfs  Koemos,  ii.  441.  »  Trans,  of  Diosc,  p.  12?. 


cclii  INTKODUCTION.  [chap.  yi. 

dear.**  Matthioli  thinks  that  the  latter  was  the  olio  di 
abezzo,  which  is  not  mentioned  either  by  Dioscorides  or 
Pliny. 

The  hardest  of  all  the  resins  is  colophonia;^  the 
terebinthina  continues  liquid  a  long  time,  and  the  olio 
di  abezzo  remains  in  a  moderately  liquid  state.  The 
best  "  pece  di  Spagna  "  was  brought  from  the  island  of 
Fityusa,  on  the  coast  of  Spain. 

In  the  Greek  MS.  of  Mount  Athos,  pece  Greca  is 
called  F^goula.*  It  appears  that  it  was  also  known  by 
this  name  in  Italy.  Thus  Fioravanti  states,'  in  his 
'Secreti,*  "La  vernice  commune  ^  una  compositione, 
la  quale  si  fa  di  olio  di  lino  e  di  pece  Greca,  con  una 
parte  del  olio,  e  tre  dipegola^^^  &c. 

Olibanunij  Thus  album,  Incenso,  Frankincense^  are 
synonymous  terms  in  works  on  art  Under  the  first 
name  this  resin  appears  to  be  included  among  the 
ingredients  in  the  chapters  of  the  Lucca  MS.  and 
Mappae  Clavicula  (p.  54,  55),  entitled  "  De  Fetalo 
Aureo,'^  and  "  Lucida  quomodo  fiant  super  Colores." 
This  resin  is  mentioned  in  the  commercial  treaty 
between  Bologna  and  Ferrara  in  1193.^  The  best 
kind  was  formerly  imported  by  way  of  Tauris  (now 
Tabreez),  whence  it  was  called  "  Torisino."  *  The  tree 
which  produced  the  Arabian  frankincense  of  Hadhra- 
maut,  so  famous  from  the  most  ancient  times,  has  not 
yet  been  discovered  and  determined  by  any  botanist 
There  is  a  similar  product  in  the  East  Indies,  which, 
according  to  Colebrooke,  has  been  obtained  from  the 
Boswellia  thurifera,  or  serrata.  The  olibanum  of  our 
druggists  is  the  produce  of  an  American  plant,  the 
Icica  guyanensis,  of  the  same  family  (Burseraces)  as 
the  Boswellia.^      Frankincense  was  used   by   the   old 

I  Trans,  of  Diosc.,  p.  127.  *  Manuel  d'Iconographie,  p.  40. 

s  Secret!  di  S.  Leonard.  Fioravanti,  lib.  iii.  cap.  95.      «  Depping,  i.  241. 

*  See  the  work  of  Pegoletti  and  Uzzano,  cited  by  Depping,  i.  142. 

•  Humboldt's  Kosmos,  Sabine's  translation,  London,  1848,  vol.  ii.  p. 440. 


^ 


3 


CHAP.  VI.]  BESINS.  ccliii 

painters  in  the  composition  of  the  pastille  with  which 
ultramarine  was  mixed,  as  well  as  in  varnishes;^  and 
we  learn  from  the  Bolognese  MS.'  that  when  it  was 
dissolved  in  linseed-oil,  the  composition  was  sometimes 
called  "  vernice  liquida."  From  the  scarcity  of  ori- 
ental olibanum,  it  was  frequently  adulterated  with  gum 
and  resin.  The  resin  held  in  most  esteem  in  the  East 
for  burning  as  incense  was,  according  to  Agricola, 
amber ;  but  it  is  probable  that  for  amber  we  should  read 
oriental  copal.^ 

Sandarac—This  resin  is  brought  from  the  southern 
provinces  of  Morocco.  In  the  language  of  the  country 
it  is  called  ''  el  Grassa  ;**  ^  and  by  this  name  it  has 
always  been  known   in  Spain.      Thus  Facheco  says, 

"  Grassa which  is  the  gum  of  the  juniper, 

which  the  Arabs  call  sandarac."^  Falomino  mentions 
this  resin  under  the  name  ^^  grasilla."  It  was  generally 
beUeyed  that  sandarac  was  the  gum  of  the  juniper,  and 
as  such  it  is  described  by  Matthioli,  Laguna,^  Bulen- 
gerus,*  and  other  writers ;  but  it  is  now  known  to  exude 
from  the  Thuya  articulata  (African  arbor  vitae),  a 
dwarf  tree  somewhat  resembling  the  juniper.*  In  its 
dry  state,  sandarac  was  called  vernix,  vernice  grossa,^^ 
vernice  in  grana,^^  vernice  dascrivere."  The  last  name 
was  derived  from  the  pulverized  sandarac  being  formerly 
nibbed  over  cotton  paper   to   prepare  it  for  writing. 


I  Pp.  166,  630.  >  P.  489.  ^  De  Metallicis,  p.  243. 

*  See  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  vol.  y.  part  ir. 
^  Enc/c.  Brit.,  tit.  Sandarac. 

*  "  Grassa,  que  es  la  goma  del  eneproque  los  Arabes  llaman  Sandaraca. 
Tratado,  410. 

^  Diosc.  ilustr.  per  el  Doct.  Laguna,  p.  62.  «  De  Pictura,  &c. 

*  Mr.  Eastlake's  *  Materials,'  &c.,  p.  232. 

1*  Borghini  (Ripoao,  p.  175)  says  *^  sandaraca  ovvero  vernice  grossa." 

II  ^*  Vernice  di  sandaraca  o  vernice  in  grana,"  Secret!  di  S.  Leonard. 
Fioravanti,  Torino,  1580,  lib.  iii.  cap.  68.  Marciana  MS.,  pp.  609, 621,  631. 

i>  '*  Vernice  da  scrivere,  cto^  sandracha,  cio^  gomma  di  ginepro."  Secret! 
di  D.  Aletsio,  part  ii.  f.  57. 


f» 


ccliv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

When  sandarac  was  dissolved  in  linseed-oil,  it  consti- 
tuted the  "  vernice  liquida  "  of  the  Italians.^     ^ 

Mastic. — This  is  a  resin  obtained  from  the  Pistacia 
lentiscus,  k  tree  which  grows  in  the  Levant,  and  parti- 
cularly in  the  island  of  Chios.  Mastic  appears  to  have 
been  always  used  in  the  arts  as  a  varnish ;  and  in  the 
Lucca  MS.'  it  is  recommended  to  be  added  to  a  varnish 
or  mordant  composed  of  linseed-oil,  with  resins  and 
gums  of  various  kinds,  as  a  dryer.  Mastic  and  mastic- 
varnish  are  also  mentioned  as  dryers  by  Italian  writers 
on  art* 

Amber,  Svccinum,  Carabe,  GlassOy  Glas, — The  vege- 
table origin  of  amber  is  now  universally  admitted.  On 
this  subject  Humboldt  remarks  i* — "  Groeppert's  excel- 
lent researches,  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  soon  appear 
illustrated  with  plates,  inform  us  ^  that  all  the  Baltic 
amber  is  derived  fiiom  a  coniferous  tree,  which,  as 
proclaimed  by  the  extant  remains  of  the  wood  and  bark, 
were  obviously  of  different  ages,  came  nearest  to  our 
white  and  red  pine  timber,  but  still  constituted  a  parti- 
cular species.'  The  amber-tree  of  the  former  world 
(Pinites  succifer)  had  a  richness  in  resin  with  which 
none  of  the  coniferous  tribes  of  the  present  world  will 
bear  comparison,  inasmuch  as  great  masses  of  amber  are 
contained  not  only  within  and  upon  the  bark,  but  also 
between  the  rings  of  the  wood,  and  in  the  direction  oi 
the  medullary  rays,  which,  as  well  as  the  cells,  are  seen 
under  the  microscope  to  be  filled  with  ambreous  resin, 
of  a  whiter  or  yellower  colour  in  different  places. 
Amongst  the  vegetable  matters  inclosed  in  amber  we 
find  both  male  and  female  flowers  of  indigenous,  aci- 

1  Bol.  MS.,  pp.  489,  521.  Secret!  di  D.  Alessio,  part  ii.  f.  57,  160. 
Caneparius,  de  Atramenti;:,  pp.  260,  341,  S7S,  379.  Balengerns  de 
Pictura,  &c.,  lib.  ii.  cap.  ii.  Other  authorities  are  cited  by  Mr.  Eaatiake, 
'  Materials,'  &c.,  p.  238. 

*  De  Confectio  LuctdsB ;  and  see  Clavieiila,  p.  53. 

3  See  Errante,  Saggio  sui  Colori ;  Armenini,  de'  Vcri  Precetti ;  and  Bi- 
sagno,  Trattato,  &c.         *  Kosmos,  vol.  i.  p.  303,  and  see  vol.  ii.  p.  412. 


CHAP,  vij  RESINS.  cclv 

cular-leavedy  and  cupuliferous  trees;  but  distinct  frag- 
ments of  Thuja,  Cupressus,  Ephedera,  and  Castania 
vesca,  mingled  with  others  of  junipers  and  firs,  indicate 
a  vegetation  which  is  different  from  that  of  the  present 
coasts  and  plains  of  the  Baltic." 

Amber,  according  to  Berzeliu»,  "  contains  jive 
substances: — 1.  An  odoriferous  oil,  in  small  quan- 
tity.— 2.  A  yellow  resin,  intimately  combined  with  this 
oil,  dissolving  freely  in  alcohol,  ether,  and  alkalis,  very 
fusible,  and  resembling  ordinary  vegetable  resins. — 3.  A 
resin  soluble  with  difficulty  in  cold  alcohol,  more  freely 
in  hot  alcohol,  from  which  it  separates  on  cooling,  as  a 
white  powder  soluble  in  ether  and  alkalis.  These  two 
resins  and  the  volatile  oil,  if  removed  from  amber  by 
ether,  and  then  obtained  by  evaporation  of  the  latter  in 
Water,  form  a  natural  viscid  balsam,  very  odorous,  of  a 
clear  yellow  colour,  and  which  gradually  becomes  hard, 
but  retains  some  odour.  There  is  every  reason  for 
supposing  this  to  be  precisely  the  substance  from 
which  amber  originates,  but  rather  poorer  in  es- 
sential oil  than  at  first;  and  that  the  insoluble 
substances  in  amber  have  been  gradually  formed  by  a 
spontaneous  alteration  of  this  balsam,  but  at  the  same 
time  have  enveloped  one  part  of  it,  and  so  preserved  it 
from  entire  decomposition  or  change. — 4.  Succinic  acid, 
dissdved  with  the  preceding  bodies  by  ether,  alcohol, 
and  alkalis. — 5.  A  body  insoluble  in  alcohol,  ether,  and 
alkalis,  analogous  in  some  points  to  the  substance  found 
by  Dr.  John  in  lac,  and  called  by  him  the  prhwiple  of 
lac.  This  is  formed  in  large  quantity  when  a  solution 
of  lac  in  alkali  is  precipitated  by  chlorine.*** 

Amber  was  formerly  found  on  the  coasts  of  the 
Baltic,  also  near  the  Po  and  Adriatic :  and  it  is  stated 
by  Depping*  to  have  been  imported  fix)m  the  Maldives. 

'1  Ure's  Dictionary  of  Chemistry,  p.  147. 
s  Histoire  du  Commerce,  vol.  i.  p.  142. 


cclvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

The  amber  found  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  was  known 
to  the  inhabitants  of  those  countries  under  the  name  of 
glessum,  whence  glasse^  glassa,  glas.  The  fact  of 
amber  having  been  found  near  the  Po,  and  on  the 
shores  of  the  Adriatic,  is  mentioned  by  Agricola,^  and 
by  Matthioli,  merely  as  a  report,  which  they  considered 
to  have  originated  from  the  circumstance  that  amber 
necklaces  were  commonly  worn  by  the  peasant  women 
of  these  countries;^  and  both  authors  carefully  dis- 
tinguish amber  or  succino  from  the  gum  or  resin  which 
exudes  from  the  black  and  white  poplars  growing  on 
the  banks  of  the  Po.  The  latter  writer,  especially,  is 
very  precise  in  this  respect  In  quoting  the  following 
passage  from  Serapion,  "  Et  dicitur  quod  gummi  Haur 
Romi,'  quod  nascitur  circa  fluvium,  qui  dicitur  Eri- 
danus,  quando  distillat  in  flumine  illo,  coagulatur  ibi,  et 
est  illud,  quod  dicitur  Alipton,  id  est  electrum;  et 
sunt  qui  nominant  ipsum  Arsopodon,  et  est  charabe," 
and  a  similar  passage  from  Avicenna,  he  remarks,  they 
do  not  affirm  that  charabe  is  the  gum  of  the  black 
poplar,  but  merely  that  it  is  said  to  be.  Conder,*  how- 
ever, mentions  that  amber  is  found  in  earth  impregnated 
with  petroleum,  beneath  the  vineyards  and  corn-fields 
in  the  territory  of  Modena ;  and  it  will  also  be  recol- 
lected that  in  the  book  lent  by  Era  Dionisio  to 
Alcherius,  a  certain  gum,  Andrianum,  which  had  attrac- 
tive powers  similar  to 'those  possessed  by  amber  and 
resins  generally,  is  stated  to  have  been  found  on  Monte 
Buono  ( Bene).*  Phillips'  states  that  amber  is  actually 
found  in  Italy  and  on  the  coast  of  the  Adriatic. 


1  De  Metallicis,  f.  238.    Trans,  of  Diosc.,  pp.  165,  166. 

s  "  The  Etrurians  carried  on  considerable  trade  through  the  north  of 
Italy  and  across  the  Alps,  where  '  the  Sacred  Road'  led  to  the  distant  amber 
countries.**  (See  Humboldt's  Kosroos,  vol.  ii.  p.  164.)  These  traders  pro- 
bably supplied  the  Italian  women  with  amber. 

»  Haur  Romi  is  the  Arab  name  for  the  black  poplar.    See  "Matt.,  p.  156. 

<  Italy,  vol.  ii.  p.  46.  »  Seo  p.  82.  •  Mineralogy,  p.  378. 


CHAP.  Ti,]  RESINS.  cclvii 

It  may  be  considered  questionable  whether  the  sub- 
stance reputed  to  have  been  imported  from  the  Maldives 
during  the  middle  ages,  under  the  name  of  amber,  was 
really  amber  or  oriental  copal.  Mr.  Eastlake  has 
shown-  that  these  substances  were  scarcely  distinguished 
in  ancient  recipes.  Old  writers  mention  two  kinds  of 
amber,  the  white  and  the  yellow ;  and  the  only  distinctive 
property  they  assign  to  amber  is,  that  of  attracting 
straws,  which  proves  to  be  common  to  resins  generally, 
and  cannot  therefore  be  considered  as  decisive.  Agri- 
cola  asserts'  that  amber  was  certainly  found  in  Africa, 
but  he  knew  not  in  what  parts :  he  says  it  was  also 
found  in  Syria,  in  India,  and,  according  to  Marco 
Polo,  the  Venetian  traveller,  in  the  Island  of  Mada- 
gascar. It  appears  that  copal  is  found  in  Abyssinia,  in 
Palestine,  and  in  the  East  Indies ;  and  it  is  sold  in  the 
bazaars  of  Jerusalem,  Mecca,  and  other  places,  as  a 
choice  specimen  of  incense.'  In  this  respect  it  agrees 
with  what  Agricola  says^  of  amber ;  namely,  that  the 
odour  of  the  smoke  of  amber  was  more  agreeable  to  the 
Indians  than  that  of  incense.  Copal  is  al^o  brought 
from  Madagascar.'  There  are  some  grounds  then  for 
considering  that  the  amber  stated  to  have  been  procured 
from  Africa  and  Asia  may  have  been  oriental  copal ; 
and  that  although  amber  was  actually  found  in  some 
parks  of  Italy,  European  nations  were  principally  sup- 
plied with  it  from  Germany. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  amber :  the  best,  which  is 
imported  from  Prussia  and  Poland,  is  hard  and  trans- 
parent, and  the  surface'  is  frequently  marked  in  a 
pecuKar  manner,  as  if,  when  in  a  fluid  state,  it  had  been 
enclosed  in  wood,  and  had  then  taken  and  retained  the 
impression  of  the  fibres  of  the  wood  and  bark.   This  kind 


1  Materials,  Ike,  p.  283,  284.  *  De  MeUUicis,  f.  243. 

'  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  yoI.  v.  No.  iv.  ^  De  Metallicis,  f.  243. 

»  Guibourt,  Hbtoire  dea  Drogues,  vol.  ii.  p.  626. 

VOL.  I.  r 


cclviii  INTRODUCTION.  [chip.  vi. 

of  amber  makes  the  best  varnish,  and  dissolves  perfectly 
in  oil.  The  other  sort  of  amber  is  called  sea-amber, 
and  is  of  the  size  of  coffee-beans,  but  irregular  in  shape, 
darker  than  the  first  kind,  and  much  less  transparent 
Mr.  Wilson  Neil  says,^  ^'  it  is  harder  to  fuse,  has  less 
fluidity,  and  contains  more  salt,  gas,  and  impurities." 

CopaL — A  very  white  transparent  resin,  used  for- 
merly by  the  aborigines  of  Spanish  America  as  incense. 
In  the  language  of  these  people  it  signified  all  kinds  of 
resin  exuding  from  trees.'  Under  the  name  of  copal, 
therefore,  it  is  useless  to  look  for  this  resin  in  works 
written  previous  to  the  period  of  the  introduction  of 
American  produce  into  Europe.  At  present  three 
varieties  are  known  in  commerce,  viz.,  Brazilian,  West 
Indian,  and  East  Indian  or  Levantine  copal.  The 
former,  which  is  called  soft  copal,  exudes  from  one  of 
the  HymenaB8B ;  the  latter,  or  hard  copal,  is  the  produce 
of  the  Vateria  Indica.'  The  last  variety  was  pro- 
bably the  same  substance  which  was  called  amber  by 
the  Italians,  and  which  was  stated  by  Agricola  and 
Matthioli  to  have  been  imported  from  Syria  and 
India,  and  by  Marco  Polo  from  the  Island  of 
Madagascar;  and  this  supposition  is  rendered  more 
probable  by  the  fact  that  the  Levantine  copal  is  now 
brought  from  Palestine,  Abyssinia,  and  Madagascar. 
The  South  African  copal  is  considered  the  finest  in 
quality,  and  the  best  samples  which  sometimes  reach 
Europe  from  India  were  originally  procured  from 
Africa.*  The  white  resin  of  Arabia,  mentioned  in  the 
Paduan  MS.,^  was  perhaps  African  copal,  which  it 
appears  is  sold  in  the  bazaars  of  Jerusalem,  Mecca,  and 
other  places,  as  a  species  of  choice  incense,  and  is  at  the 

1  On  the  Manufacture  of  Varnishes,  Trans.  Soc  Arts,  vol.  xlix.  part  2. 

«  Ray's  History  of  Plants,  p.  1846.      «  Pharm.  Times,  vol.  iii.  p.  608. 

*  See  Mr.  Eastlake's  *  Materials,'  &c.,  p.  284,  citing  Tripier-Deveaux, 
^  Traits  Th^rique  et  Pratique  sur  1' Art  de  faire  lea  Verais,'  Paris,  1845, 
p.  40;  and  Guibourt,  Hist,  des  Drogues,  vol.  ii.  p.  626,  on  the  Copal  of 
Madagascar.  »  P.  696. 


CHAP.  VI.]  RESINS.  cclix 

present  time  chiefly  employed  for  this  purpose  on  the 
altars  of  Mahomet.^ 

The  earliest  writer  who  mentions  copal  by  this  name 
as  an  ingredient  in  varnishes  is  probably  Fra  Fortunato 
of  Rovigo,  the  recipes  in  whose  ^  Secreti '  date  from  1 65^ 
to  1711.  The  next  author  is  Palomino,  who  gives*  a 
recipe  for  varnish  composed  of  copal  dissolved  in  spirit 
of  turpentine.  As  the  solvent  in  both  recipes  is  the 
same,  it  may  be  concluded  that  copal  was  at  this  period 
usually  dissolved  in  spirits  of  turpentine.  I  have  ascer- 
tained that  copal  is  perfectly  soluble  in  cold  oil  of  spike, 
but  the  solution  is  not  effected  in  less  than  five  or  six 
years.  I  possess  a  specimen  of  copal  varnish  prepared 
in  this  way,  which  is  very  clear  and  pale. 

Black  Poplar  Resin. — It  has  been  observed  that  this 
resin  was  considered  by  Serapion,  Avicenna,  and  other 
writers  as  synonymous  with  carabe  or  amber,  and  that 
Agricola  and  Matthioli  had  shown  that  a  resin  actually 
exuded  from  both  kinds  of  poplar,  and  that  the  black 
poplar  was  the  tree  known  to  the  Arabs  under  the 
name  of  "  haur  Romi."  Schroeder  has,  however,  the 
reputation  of  having  been  the  first  who  pointed  out  this 
resin,  which  he  obtained  not  from  the  bark  in  the 
manner  described  by  the  ancients,  but  by  boiling  the 
buds  of  the  black  poplar  in  water  and  afterwards  pressing 
them.  The  buds  yield  about  one-fourth  of  their  weight 
of  resin,  which  is  said  to  resemble  Botany  Bay  resin.* 
But  although  new  to  the  moderns,  this  resin  was  appa- 
rently not  unknown  to  the  medieval  writers,  since  we 
find  "  flores  populi "  among  the  ingredients  in  two  kinds 
of  varnish,  for  which  there  are  recipes  in  the  Lucca 
MS.,  which  are  copied  in  the  Clavicula/ 

Lac. — There  is  some  doubt  whether  the  "  lacca  "  of 
the  Lucca  MS.  and  the  Clavicula  was  gum  lac  or  the 

*  Phannaoeatical  Journal,  rol.  iv.  p.  4.     <  Museo  Pictorico,  vol.  ii.  p.  32S. 
s  See  London  Encjclop.,  art.  Chemistry,  p.  494. 
4  Mappae  Clavicula,  p.  53,  54. 

r  2 


Cclx  INTKODUCnON.  [( 


.  VI. 


gum  of  the  ivy,  but  it  is  certain  that  Indian  gum  lac 
was  imported  into  Spain  and  Provence  as  early  as 
1220.^  Although  the  art  of  preparing  a  red  pigment 
from  this  resin  was  known  at  an  early  period,  the  resin 
itself  appears  to  have  been  considered  useless,  and  it 
was  probably  only  towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century  that  it  came  into  use  as  an  ingredient  in  var- 
nishes. The  Faduan  MS.*  contains  directions  for  sepa- 
rating the  red  colouring  matter,  so  that  the  gum  might 
be  used  in  japanning  as  a  varnish  with  or  without 
colours.  Lac  varnish  does  not  appear  to  have  been  used 
for  varnishing  pictures  or  in  painting  until  very  recently. 
Benzoin. — A  solid  balsam,'  extracted  from  incisions 
made  in  the  Storax  benzoe,  a  tree  which  grows  in  Su- 
matra. According  to  Depping  *  it  was  imported  at  an 
early  period  into  Europe;  but  as  an  ingredient  in 
varnish  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  used  until  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was  employed  for 
this  purpose  by  the  Italians  and  Spaniards,  and  the 
earliest  notices  of  it  probably  occur  in  the  Mardana 
MS.*  and  in  the  vSecreti'  of  D.  Alessio.*  Varnish  of 
benzoin  is  also  mentioned  by  Armenini,^  and  in  the 
Faduan  MS."  The  benzoin  was  dissolved  in  spirit  of 
turpentine  or  spirit  of  wine.  Benzoin  appears  never  to 
have  been  an  ingredient  in  oil  varnishes.  Falomino  and 
Facheco  mention  this  balsam  under  the  name  of  meiy'ui. 


1  Capmany,  Memorias,  &c. ;  and  tbe  Stetutes  of  Maraeillea,  quoted  by 
Depping,  vol.  i.  p  147.  «  P.  686,  688. 

3  **  Balsams  are  mixtures  of  resins  and  volatile  oils.  They  differ  very 
greatly  in  consistence,  some  being  quite  fluid,  others  solid  and  brittle.  By 
keeping,  the  softer  kinds  often  become  bard.  Balsams  may  be  conveniently 
divided  into  two  classes,  viz.,  those  which,  like  common  and  Venice  turpen- 
tine, Canada  balsam.  Copaiba  balsam,  &c.,  are  merely  natural  Tarnishes,  or 
solutions  of  resins,  in  volatile  oils,  and  those  which  contain  benzoic  or  dn- 
namic  acid  in  addition,  as  Peru  and  Tolu  balsams,  and  the  solid  resinous 
benzom,  commonly  called  gum-benzoin." — Fownes,  Manual  of  Elementary 
Chemistry,  p.  501. 

*  Hist,  du  Commerce,  vol.  i.  p.  142.  5  p,  629. 

•  Secret!,  part  i.  f.  115.     »  De'  Veri  Precetli,  lib.  ii.  cap.  ix.     «  P.  698. 


our.  TiJ  VARNISHES.  ^^^^^ 

Copaiva  is  obtained  from  incisions  made  in  the  trunk 
of  the  Copaifera  officinalis,  a  tree  which  grows  m 
South  America  and  some  of  the  West  India  islands. 
It  is  mentioned  as  an  ingredient  in  amber  varnish,  m 
the  Faduan  MS.,  and  appears  to  have  been  used  by  the 
later  Venetians  both  in  varnishes  and  in  painting.^ 

Damara  Eesin.  —  Terebinta  di  Dammara  is  the 
produce  of  the  Pinus  dammara  (Lambert),  Agathis  daa> 
mara  (Rich.,  Conifire,  tav.  19),  a  tree  which  grows  in 
the  Indian  Archipelago.  Its  odour  is  strongly  resinous 
and  its  taste  very  bitter.*  At  the  present  time  this  resin 
is  mueh  used  in  the  Venetian  territories  as  a  varnish, 
and  it  is  currently  reputed  to  have  been  employed  by 
the  old  masters ;  but  this  opinion  appears  to  be  unsup- 
ported  by  evidence — indeed,  its  uses  are  described  by 
Chevalier  and  Richard  as  being  unknown.  It  has, 
however,  been  recently  employed  at  Munich  as  a  vehicle 
for  painting,  for  which  purpose  it  was  dissolved  in 
spirits  of  turpentine  with  a  certain  proportion  of  bleached 
wax.'  For  the  following  recipe  for  damara  varnish  for 
pictures,  I  am  indebted  to  a  painter  of  Verona : — Put 
two  and  a  half  ounces  of  damara  resin  finely  powdered 
and  six  ounces  of  spirit  of  turpentine  into  a  bottle ; 
shake  occasionally  until  the  resin  is  dissolved,  and  it 
will  be  a  strong  varnish.     No  heat  is  necessary. 

Varnishes. 

The  earliest  varnish  and  that  which  was  most  univer- 
sally adopted  in  Italy  was  unquestionably  the  old 
vemice  liquida,  which  was  composed  of  linseed  oil  and 
pulverised  sandarac,  commonly  called  "  vemice,"  **  ver- 
nice  da  scrivere,**  and  '^gomma  di  gineparo.**  The 
varnishes  of  Theophilus  are  referred  to  under  the  name 

1  See  Mr.  Sheldrake's  Essay ,  Trans.  Soc.  Arts,  vol.  xix. ;  and  Marcucci, 
p.  222.  s  Diz.  delle  Droghe  di  Chevalier  e  Richard,  &c. 

'  See  Appendix  to  the  Third  Report  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Fma 
Arts,  p.  52. 


cclxii  INTRODUCTION.  [cbaf.  n. 

of  vernice  liquida  in  the  Tabula  Imperfecta  prefixed 
to  the  Le  Begue  MS.  In  this  table  and  under  the 
same  head  is  another  reference  to  the  recipe  of  Le 
Begue :  "  A  faire  bonne  vemix  liquide  pour  peintres,"^ 
which  appears  to  have  been  compiled  by  him  from 
the  two  recipes  of  Theophilus,  with  a  few  additions 
of  his  own.  From  this  recipe  it  may  be  inferred  that 
Le  Begue  considered  the  materials  in  both  the  recipes 
of  Theophilus  as  identical,  but  a  comparison  of  these 
chapters  of  Theophilus  with  the  three  recipes  in  St. 
Audemar,  Nos.  207,  208,  and  209,  and  that  in  Eradius 
(p.  241),  make  it  highly  probable  that  tlie  resin  in  one 
case  was  sandarac  and  in  the  other  amber.'  In  addition 
to  linseed  oil  Le  Begue  mentions  hemp-seed  and  nut 
oils,  which,  he  says,  might  be  used  instead  of  linseed 
oil ;  and  it  may  be  remarked  that  in  making  varnishes 
linseed  and  nut  oils  were  used  indifferently. 

There  is  still  another  reference  in  the  Tabula  Im- 
perfecta to  a  recipe  in  the  Le  B^ue  MS.  for  ^^  vernice 
liquida,"  but  as  No.  210,  the  r.ecipe  referred  to,  does 
not  describe  a  varnish,  one  of  those  described  in  Nos. 
207,  208,  and  209,  and  probably  the  first,  must  be  in- 
tended. 

The  term  **  vernice  liquida  **  occurs  frequently  in  the 
early  Italian  recipes  copied  in  1409  from  the  book  of 
Fra  Dionisio,  and  also  in  the  treatise  of  St  Audemar. 
It  is  also  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Bolognese  MS., 
which  contains  no  less  than  three  recipes  for  making  it 
The  first  of  these,*  the  old  "  vernice  liquida,"  consisted 
of  linseed  oil  and  sandarac,  under  the  name  of  **  ^mma 
di  gineparo."  The  varnish  described  in  the  second 
recipe  was  composed  of  linseed  oil  and  incense.  This 
varnish  was  made  clear  by  the  addition  of  roche  alum, 
and  was  rendered  drying  by  the  addition  of  minium ; 

1  No.  341,  p.  313.        s  See  Mr.  Eastlake's  <  Materials/ &c.,  p.  241—246. 

s  No.  206,  p.  489. 


cBAF.Ti.]  VARNISHES.  ^  cclxiii 

the  Oil,  moreover,  was  set  on  fire  and  burnt  to  deprive 
it  of  its  unctuosity.^  From  this  recipe  it  is  apparent 
that  the  term  "  vemice  liquida  **  was  not  always  limited 
to  the  ori^al  signification,  but  was  sometimes  extended 
to  a  varnish  composed  of  oil  and  incense.  When,  how- 
ever, the  materials  of  which  the  varnish  is  composed 
are  not  specified,  the  old  vemice  liquida  (linseed  oil 
and  sandarac)  is  generally  to  be  understood.  The  third 
varnish  was,  like  the  first,  composed  of  linseed  oil, 
sandarac^  here  called  "  vernice  da  scrivere,"  and  thirty 
or  forty  cloves  of  garlic;  and  when  the  varnish  was 
nearly  cold  the  whites  of  several  eggs  were  added  to  it 
and  well  mixed,  and  the  bottle  was  placed  in  the  sun 
for  one  day.  Vernice  liquida  is  also  frequently  men- 
tioned by  Cennini  not  only  as  a  varnish  for  pictures  * 
and  for  tin,'  but  as  an  ingredient  in  cements,^  and  mor- 
dants,* and  other  works. 

Although  vernice  liquida  ■  is  not  mentioned  in  the 
Faduan  MS.  or  by  Yolpato,  Armenini,  Bisagno,  or 
Borghini,  the  evidence  of  Matthioli,  Caneparius,  and 
others  is  sufficient  to  establish  the  fact  that  the  use  of  it 
with  colours  was  not  entirely  discontinued  in  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries.  By  the  Spanish 
painters  this  varnish,  which  is  described  by  Facheco  as 
that  of  the  "  guadamacileros  "  (leather- gilders),  was  in 
his  time  mixed  with  colours  in  a  particular  kind  of  oil 
painting,  which  this  writer  calls '  ^^  las  encarnaciones  de 
polimento.** 

The  "drying  oil"  mentioned  in  the  appendix  to  the 
Italian  edition  of  *  LTdee  du  Feintre  Farfait  *  of  De 
Piles  consisted  of  vernice  liquida  made  drying  by  the 
addition  of  Uthai^e. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  old  vemice  liquida  was 
modified  in  various  ways.     It  was  sometimes  combined 

iP.  621.         «  Cap.  166.         8  Caps.  97,  98,  101.  *  Cap.  107. 

»  Cap.  161.  «  Tratado,  p.  404. 


cclxiv  INTRODUCTION.  [cbaf,  vi. 

with  incense,  as  in  the  recipe  in  the  Marciana  MS^  ap- 
proved by  Sansovino/  and  sometimes  with  peceGreca-* 

Next  in  importance  to  the  *' vemice  liquida"  was  the 
"  vernice  comune,"  or  common  varnish,  of  the  Italians, 
which  Armenini  and  Bisagno  direct  to  be  mixed  with 
the  priming,  and  with  certain  colours.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  term  was  first  applied  to  the  varnish  of 
sandarac  and  oil,  which  Caneparius  calls'  *' common 
liquid  varnish ;"  but  before  Armenini's  time  the  appel- 
lation ^^ common"  appears  to  have  been  applied  to 
another  varnish  also. 

Armenini  and  Bisagno  give  several  recipes  for 
varnish,  and  after  describing  one  made  of  mastic  and 
nut-oil,  they  add  that  ^^  this  varnish  may  be  added  to 
the  finer  kinds  of  azure,  lakes,  and  other  colours,  that 
they  may  dry  more  quickly  ;*'  but  neither  of  them  states 
that  this  is  the  ^^  vernice  comune."  A  similar  varnish 
is  mentioned  in  the  Marciana  MS/  as  a  most  excellent 
varnish  for  lutes,  leather,  paintings  on  p^nel,  cloth,  &c. 
In  the  recipe  for  making  printing-ink  the  same  author 
says,^  ^*  Take  varnish  made  for  varnishing,  and  the  finer 
it  is  the  better;  but  the  common  varnish  which  the 
apothecaries  sell  to  varnish  wood  and  other  things  will 
do."  The  composition  of  "  the  best  vernice  comune, 
which  is  good  for  varnishing  whatever  you  please,"  is 
described  at  p.  63/9  where  it  is  stated  to  consist  of 
linseed  oil  and  pece  Greca.  The  statement  that  ^^  ver- 
nice comune  "  was  made  of  linseed  oil  and  pece  Greca 
is  confirmed  by  Leonard  Fioravanti,*  who  recommends 
one  part  oil  and  three  parts  pece  Greca.  It  will  be 
observed  that  the  common  Italian  varnish  corresponds 
with  one  of  the  varnishes  in  the  Strassburg  MS.,^  with 

1  p.  631.  *  p.  637.     See  aim  Venetian  MS.  in  the  Sloane 

Collection,  No.  416,  f.  139.  ^  De  Atramenti«,  p.  260. 

<  P.  633.  ft  See  p.  619.  «  Secreti,  lib.  iik  caps.  67,  95. 

"7  Quoted  by  Mr.  Eastlake,  *  Materials/  &c.,  p.  280. 


CBAP.  VI.]  VARNISHES.  Cclxv 

one  of  those  in  the  Venetian  MS^^  and  also  with  the 
varnish  of  "  Pes^ri  "  of  the  Byzantine  MS.* 

Another  varnish  described  in  the  Marciana  MS.'  ^*  as 
a  most  excellent,  clear,  and  drying  varnish,  proper 
for  colours  both  in  oil-painting  and  in  other  kinds  of 
paiating/'  consists  of  the  ^'veruice  comune/'  with  the 
addition  of  mastic.  This  addition  was  probably  made 
with  the  view  of  rendering  the  varnish  more  siccative, 
since  mastic  was  placed  among  dryers  as  early  as  the 
date  of  the  Lucca  MS.  The  drying  properties  of 
mastic  varnish  are  alluded  to  by  Armenini  *  and  Bi- 
sagno,  and  the  varnish  of  mastic  and  nut-oil  is  recom- 
mended by  Errante  ^  as  the  safest  of  all  dryers.  It  is 
not  therefore  improbable  that  this  varnish  may  have 
borne  the  name  of  "  vernice  comune  **  as  well  as  the 
varnish  made  of  nut  or  linseed  oil  and  pece  Greca.  It 
is  probable  that  the  varnishes  composed  of  pece  Greca, 
mastic,  and  incense  were  much  lighter  in  colour  than 
the  "  vernice  liquida,"  and  therefore  were  better  adapted 
for  mixing  with  light  colours.  It  must  be  observed  that 
the  common  varnish  used  by  the  Flemish  painters  em- 
ployed by  Charles  I.  in  England  consisted  of  Venice 
turpentine  dissolved  in  oil  of  turpentine.*  The  "  vernix 
commun  "  of  the  French  resembled  this. 

According  to  Pierre  Pomet '  the  latter  was  nothing 
more  than  the  turpentine  procured  from  the  pine  (Pinus 
abies)  liquefied  in  spirit  of  turpentine.  The  same 
author  also  calls  •  this  varnish  "  le  vernis  gros."  Pierre 
Pomet  wrote  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  as  a  varnish 


1  Slotne  MS.,  No.  416,  p.  139.  *  Manuel  d'Iconographie,  p.  40. 

'  P.  633.  According  to  Bonanni  this  varnish  is  used  by  the  Turks  for 
bows,  &c. 

^  Speaking  of  the  yamish  of  mastic  and  nut-oil,  Armenini  says  "e  di 
questa  se  ne  pub  mettere  negli  azzurri  fini,  nelle  lacche  e  in  altri  colon, 
scci6  St  asciughino  piu  presto." 

»  Saggio,  &c.  •  Mr.  Eastlake,  <  Materials,'  471  -476. 

7  Hist  G^n^rale  des  Drogues,  ii.  lOG.  •  lb.,  p.  71. 


cclxvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  vl 

composed  of  a  balsam  dissolved  in  an  essential  oil  can 
be  traced  in  Italy  as  early  as  the  date  of  the  Marciana 
MS./  and  was  reputed  to  be  in  general  use  throughout 
Lombardy  about  1580,*  there  is  reason  to  belieye  that 
this  kind  of  varnish  was  of  Italian  origin.'  That  it  was 
used  in  Spain  is  proved  by  Pacheco,  who  remarks  *  that 
the  Strassburg  turpentine  (trementina  de  veta  de 
Francia)  should  be  used. 

But  the  "  groe  vernis "  of  the  French  was  not  the 
^^  vernice  grossa ""  of  the  Italians  By  the  latter,  the 
term  was  applied  sometimes  to  a  dry  substance  and 
sometimes  to  a  liquid  varnish.  When  Borghini '  says, 
"  Prendasi  .  .  .  .  un'  oncia  d'  olio  di  spigo  e  un'  oncia  di 
sandarac  ovvero  vernice  grossa,"  it  is  probable  that  he 
means  sandarac  in  its  dry  state.  Baldinucci  defines 
^^  vernice  grossa  "  to  be  a  varnish  which  serves  as  a  pre- 
paration for  painting  in  oil  on  walls  (per  intonacare  a 
olio),  and  which  is  also  used  in  the  composition  of  print- 
ing-ink. ,  D.  Alessio  states*  that  the  varnish  used  for 
the  latter  purpose  was  ^^vernice  liquida."  Caneparius^  is 
still  more  precise ;  he  calls  it  "  Common  liquid  varnish 
. . .  made  of  Arabian  sandarac,  which  is  the  gum  of  the 
juniper,  and  linseed-oil."  It  appears  then  that  the  term 
^^  vernice  grossa  "  was  applied  both  to  dry  sandarac  and 
to  the  old  vernice  liquida.  In  the  last  sense  we  are 
probably  to  understand  the  words  of  Yasari  in  speaking* 
of  preparing  walls  for  painting  in  oil:  ^^Make  in  a 
pipkin  a  mixture  of  pece  Greca,  mastic,  and  vernice 
grossa,  and  when  this  is  boiled  apply  it  with  a  large 
brush.'*  *     It  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that  the  resins 

1  P.  635.  *  See  Armenmi,  de*  Yeri  Preoetti,  &c.    Hackert  states 

that  this  Tarnish  had  been  in  use  all  over  the  north  of  Europe  for  upwards 
of  200  years.  See  Lettera  al  Cay.  Hamilton,  suir  Uso  della  Vemioe  nella 
Pittunu    Perugia,  1788.         s  See  Mr.  Eastlake'a  *  Materials,'  &e.,  p.  470. 

4  Tratado,  p.  412.  »  Rtpoao,  p.  175.  «  Secret],  parte  i.  f.  118. 

^  De  Atramentis,  p.  260.  ^  Int.,  cap.  zxti. 

*  Compare  ^ath  Vasari'a  description  of  Sebastian  del  Piombo*s  method 
of  painting  in  oil  on  walls,  in  the  <  Life'  of  that  artist 


cHAP.viJ  VARNISHES.  cclxvii 

would  spread  if  they  were  merely  melted  without  being 
diluted  with  oil.  In  the  *  Elfemens  de  Peinture '  of  De 
Files  ^  this  passage  is  translated  ^'  de  poix  Grecque,  de 
mastic,  et  de  gros  vernis  ;*'  but  the  "  gros  vernis  "  of  the 
French  was,  I  have  shown,  not  identical  with  the  "  ver- 
nice  grossa'*  of  the  Italians.  At  a  later  period,  the 
term  "vemioe  grosse*'  was  also  used  to  denote  the 
common  oleo-resinous  varnishes.  Thus  linseed-oil  boiled 
with  lithai^e  is  said  to  be  of  great  use  in  house-painting 
and  in  the  composition  of  "  vernici  grosse."  * 

Amber,  the  principal  ingredient  in  the  German  var- 
nish,^ does  not  appear  to  be  noticed  as  a  varnish  by 
Italian  writers  previous  to  the  time  of  Lionardo  da 
Vinci,*  who  directs  that  a  picture  to  be  painted  accord- 
ing to  certain  directions  given  by  him,  should  be  var- 
nished either  with  nut-oil  and  amber,  or  with  nut-oil 
thickened  in  the  sun.^  As  Lionardo  was  one  of  the 
earliest  Italian  artists  who  practised  oil-painting  upon 
its  first  diffiision  in  Italy,  after  its  introduction  by  An- 
tonello  da  Messina,  and  as  the  early  Flemish  painters 
are  known  to  have  used  amber  varnish,  it  may  be 
supposed  that  this  varnish  of  nut-oil  and  amber  was  one 
of  the  recent  improvements  introduced  from  Flanders^ 
by  Antonello  da  Messina  and  the  German  artists, 
pupils  and  followers  of  Van  Eyck,"'  who  visited  Italy 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

1  Jombert's  edition,  p.  188.     Paris,  1766. 

2  Diz.  delle  Drogfae  di  Chevalier  e  Richard,  Trtduzione  da  F.  du  Frd. 
Venezia,  1830.  s  See  Mr.  Eaatlake's  *  Materials/  p.  288. 

^  Ldonardo  was  a  pupil  of  Andrea  Verrocchio,  who  was  probably  ac- 
qoaiiited  with  the  art  of  oil  painting,  tinee  Vasari  relates  that  he  painted 
osrtain  wax  effigies  of  Liorenzo  de'  Medici  with  oil  colours.  See  Vasari, 
life  of  Andrea  Verrocchio.  ^  Trattato,  cap.  862. 

*  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Byzantine  MS.  of  Mount  Athos  con- 
tains a  redpe  for  varnish  made  of  oil  and  '*  santalose,"  which  was  probably 
'* amber;'*  amber  vamiah  may  therefore  hare  been  introduced  into  Italy  by 
the  Greeks ;  but  of  this  there  appears  no  evidence. 

^  Roger  of  Bruges,  Memlmg,  and  Justus  van  Ghent.  See  Mr.  East- 
Uke*s '  Materials,'  p.  217. 


cclxviii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

Notices  of  amber  varnish  are  not  of  frequent  occur- 
rence in  early  Italian  works  on  art  It  appears,  how- 
ever, to  be  mentioned  in  the  Marciana  MS.  under  the 
term  "  carbone,"  which  has  undoubtedly  been  written 
instead  of  ^^carabe,"  ^  the  Arabic  and  Persian  term  for 
amber.  The  varnish  made  according  to  the  recipe  in 
question  would,  like  all  the  old  varnishes,  be  very  thick, 
the  proportions  being  one  part  of  amber  to  three  of  oil. 
It  was,  therefore,  diluted  with  naphtha,  oil,  or  spirit  of 
wine,  and  was  used  warm. 

The  ^  Secreti '  of  Alessio  also  describes  ^  a  varnish 
for  pictures  consisting  of  three  parts  of  amber  varnish 
and  one  of  distilled  linseed-oil;  and  another  varnish 
composed  of  linseed-oil  and  amber  is  quoted  by  Mr. 
Eastlake  from  the  *  Secreti  *  of  Rossello.' 

It  appears  from  the  MS.  of  Yolpato^  that  amber 
varnish  was  in  use  in  his  time,  and  that  it  was  pur- 
chased ready-made  at  the  shops,  whence  it  may  be 
inferred  that  it  was  in  common  use.  In  the  absence, 
however,  of  any  precise  recipe  for  this  amber  varnish 
of  which  Yolpato  speaks,  it  cannot  be  determined 
whether  amber  was  actually  an  ingredient,  or  whether 
the  so-called  amber  varnish  was  the  old  "vemice 
comune"  (linseed-oil  and  pece  Greca)  which  was 
known  in  Bonanni's  time  under  the  name  of  "  amber 
varnish."*  The  ingredients  of  this  varnish  were 
linseed-oil  one  part,  and  pece  Greca  three  parts, 
so  that  it  was,  in  fact,  the  vemice  comune  of  the 
Italians,  before  described.  It  is  difficult,  indeed  with- 
out additional  evidence  it  is  impossible,  to  assign  any 
reason  for  the  new  name  given  to  this  varnish.  We 
may,  perhaps,  be  allowed  to  hazard  a  conjecture,  and 


it 


1  See  p.  62S  and  note.  2  Part  ii.  p.  57. 

»  Published  at  Venice  in  1676,  quoted  in  *  Materials,'  &c.,  p.  241. 
<  P.  743. 

»  Trattato  sopra  la  Vernice  detta  comunemente  Cinese,  p.  42.    The 
new'*  edition  was  published  in  1786. 


CHIP.  VI.]  VARNISHES.  cclxix 

to  suppose  that  on  account  of  the  high  price  of  amb«r, 
aod  the  great  difficulty  of  making  pale  amber  varnish, 
it  was  customary  to  purchase  it  ready  made,  and  that 
the  dealers  substituted  for  it  the  before-mentioned  thick 
composition  of  linseed-oil  and  pece  Greca. 

In  the  before-mentioned  recipes  for  amber  varnish, 
the  amber  was  dissolved  in  oil ;  but  in  those  which  are 
now  to  be  described,  a  balsam  was  substituted  for  the 
oil.  Such  varnishes  were  perhaps  more  brilliant,  but 
less  solid  than  the  first,  which  contained  oil.  In  the 
recipe  for  amber  varnish  in  the  Paduan  MS,*  the  amber 
is  dissolved  in  turpentine  liquefied  over  the  fire.  The 
mixture,  which  when  cold  is  hard,  is  to  be  diluted  with 
spirits  of  turpentine.  Another  recipe,  which  is  stated 
by  Mr.  Sheldrake  ^  to  have  been  brought  firom  Venice 
towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  resembled  the  amber 
varnish  of  the  Paduan  MS.'  except  that  copal  was  used  in- 
stead of  amber.  He  tried  the  recipe  and  failed,  because, 
as  he  afterwards  found,  the  Venice  turpentine  of  the  shops 
was  not  the  natural  balsam,  but  common  resin  dissolved 
in  spirit  of  turpentine.  He  tried  the  experiment  a 
second  time  with  Chio  turpentine,  and  succeeded. 

Nearly  similar  to  this  is  the  varnish  used  by  Le 
Blond  on  his  prints.^  On  this  subject  Mr.  Sheldrake 
observes,  "  Le  Blond's  prints  were  long  neglected,  and 
are  now  forgotten.  Whatever  difference  of  opinion 
may  prevail  respecting  them,  there  can  be  none  respect- 
ing his  varnish,  as  I  have  seen  some  of  these  prints  in 


*  P.  688.  s  See  a  paper  by  Mr.  Sheldrake  in  the  Transactions 

of  the  Society  of  Arts,  vol.  zix.  >  P.  688. 

^  The  recipe  is  as  follows : — "  Take  4  parts  of  balsam  of  copavi  and  one 
of  copal.  Powder  and  sift  the  copal,  and  throw  it  by  degrees  into  the  balsam 
of  copavi,  stirring  it  well  each  time  it  is  put  in  ;  I  say  each  time,  for  the 
powdered  copal  must  be  put  in  by  degrees,  day  after  day,  in  at  least  16 
diflttrent  parts.  The  vessel  must  be  close  stopped  and  exposed  to  the  heat 
of  the  son,  or  a  similar  degree  of  heat,  during  the  whole  time ;  and  when 
the  whole  is  reduced  uniformly  to  the  consistence  of  honey,  add  a  quantity 
of  warm  turpentine.' 


t* 


cclxxii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

nisheSy  it  may  be  observed  that  it  is  the  custom  in  Ger- 
many to  keep  these  varnishes  in  a  sunny  window; 
amber  varnish,  thus  exposed  to  the  light,  will,  it  is  said, 
in  three  years  become  sufficiently  pale  for  general  use. 

The  use  of  amber  varnish  as  a  vehicle  for  painting 
was  revived  and  recommended  as  long  ago  as  1801  by 
Mr.  Sheldrake  in  a  paper  published  in  the  19th  volume 
of  the  Transactions  of  the  Society  of  Arts.  In  these 
papers  Mr.  Sheldrake  endeavours  to  prove  that  this 
varnish  was  used  by  the  Italian  painters ;  and  as  his 
opinion  has  been  in  a  great  measure  cotifirmed  by  docu- 
mentary evidence,  his  papers  acquire  additional  interest 
from  his  having  recorded  the  experiments  made  by 
himself  in  painting  with  this  varnish. 

The  result  of  Mr.  Sheldrake  s  experiments  is  thus 
stated : — 

^^  I  dissolved  it  [amber]  in  each  of  the  painter  s  oils, 
by  Dr.  Lewis's  process,  without  injuring  its  colour ;  and 
this  solution  was  made  in  the  common  way.  It  was 
much  darker  coloured  in  itself,  but  produced  scarcely 
any  diflference  in  effect  when  mixed  with  colour.  By 
experiments  with  each  of  these  solutions  I  ascertained 
the  following  facts,  viz. : — 

"  Every  colour,  and  all  the  tints  compounded  from 
it,  were  more  brilliant  than  corresponding  tints  and 
colours  mixed  with  the  best  drying  oils  to  be  procured 
from  the  shops. 

"  Colours  mixed  with  amber,  after  having  been  shut 
up  in  a  drawer  for  several  years,  lost  nothing  of  their 
original  brilliancy.  The  same  colours  tempered  with 
oils,  and  excluded  from  the  air,  were  so  much  altered 
that  they  could  scarcely  be  recognised. 

"  Colours  tempered  with  amber  were  laid  on  plates 
of  metal,  and  exposed  (both  in  the  air  and  close  boxes) 
for  a  long  time  to  different  degrees  of  heat,  from  that 
of  the  sun  in  summer  to  the  strong  heat  of  a  stove, 
without  being  injured.     It  is  needless  to  observe  that 


CHAP.VT.]  VARNISHES.  cclxxiii 

oil-colours  cannot  undergo  the  same  trials  without  being 
destroyed. 

"  These  colours,  when  perfectly  dried  in  any  way, 
were  not  acted  upon  by  spirit  of  wine  and  spirit  of 
turpentine  united.  They  were  washed  with  spirit  of 
sal  ammoniac  and  solutions  of  potash  for  a  longer  time 
than  would  destroy  common  oil-colours  without  being 
injured. 

"  They  dry  as  well  in  damp  as  in  dry  weather,  and 
without  any  skin  upon  the  surface.  They  are  not 
liable  to  crack,  and  are  of  a  flinty  hardness ;  whence  it 
appears  that  this  vehicle  possesses  every  desirable  pro- 
perty, and  it  is  presumed  may  be  a  discovery  of  some 
importance  to  artists. 

"  Having  succeeded  thus  far  with  amber,  I  tried  the 
same  experiments  upon  solutions  of  gum  copal,  which 
\s  nearly  as  hard  and  insoluble  as  amber  itself.  The 
result  of  these  was  the  same  as  the  former,  except  that 
with  copal  the  colours  were  something  brighter  than 
with  amber.  As  it  is  extremely  troublesome  to  dis- 
solve the  copal  and  amber,  I  tried  those  solutions  of 
them  in  oil  which  are  sold  in  the  shops.  When  good  I 
found  them  to  answer  as  well  as  my  own.  This  is  a 
great  convenience,  as  many  might  be  deterred  by  the 
difficulty  of  preparing  this  vehicle,  who  may  willingly 
use  it,  as  it  is  thus  to  be  procured  without  that  trouble.** 

Mr.  Sheldrake  also  observes : — 

^'  If  my  experiments  have  not  misled  me,  I  am  entitled 
to  draw  the  following  conclusions  from  them : — wherever 
a  picture  was  found  possessing  evidently  superior 
brilliancy  of  colour,  independent  of  what  is  produced 
by  the  painter's  skill  in  colouring,  that  brilliancy  is 
derived  from  the  admixture  of  some  resinous  substance 
in  the  vehicle.  If  it  does  not  yield  on  the  application  of 
spirit  of  turpentine  and  spirit  of  wine,  separately  or 
together,  or  to  such  alkalies  as  are  known  to  dissolve 
oils  in  the  same  time,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  vehicle 

VOL.  I.  s 


cclxxiv  INTRODUCTION.  [chap,  yu 

contains  amber  or  copal,  because  they  are  the  only  sub- 
stances known  to  resist  those  menstrua. 

'^  I  baye  been  told,  and  some  experiments  of  my  own 
prove  the  information  to  be  true,  that  die  Venetian 
pictures,  considered  with  respect  to  vehicle,  are  of  two 
kinds:  for  some  are  extremely  hard,  and  not  at  all 
affected  by  any  of  the  above  menstrua  ;^  others  are 
similar  in  colour,  but  so  tender  that  it  is  scarcely  pos- 
sible to  clean  them  without  injury,  and  in  that  respect 
are  little  superior  to  turpentine  colours.  The  first, 
in  consequence  of  the  data  which  I  have  laid  down, 
incur  the  suspicion  of  being  painted  with  amber  or 
copal." 

The  correctness  of  Mr.  Sheldrake's  observations  will 
be  acknowledged  on  comparing  them  widi  Mr.  Easdake's 
remarks'  on  the  advantages  of  amber  varnish  as  a  ve- 
hicle for  painting.  The  firmest  and  most  durable  var- 
nishes were  undoubtedly  those  composed  of  amber  and 
oil ;'  the  next  were  those  composed  of  other  resins,  such 
as  sandarac,  mastic,  and  pece  Greca,  with  oil,  or  of  am- 
ber or  copal  dissolved  in  a  balsam ;  and  the  last  dass, 
which  consisted  only  of  resins  dissolved  in  essential  oik, 
was  decidedly  the  least  durable. 


1  <*By  an  attentive  examinadoa  of  pictures  wkich  belong  to  the  iint 
epoch  of  punting  in  oil,  one  may  be  convinced  that  some  of  the  Italians 
have  employed  oil  varnishes  which  are  harder  than  those  now  used  by  the 
Flemings,  since  they  offer  greater  resistance  to  solvents."— Merim^,  &c., 
p.  30.  s  Materials,  &c.,  pp.  290,  303,  303,  304  n.,  306,  316,  486. 

s  See  Mr.  Wilson  Neil  on  the  Manufacture  of  Varnishes,  Trans.  See. 
Arts,  p.  69.  Dreme,  Der  Vimiss-u.  Kittmacher,  &c.  Marcucci,  Saggio, 
&c.,  p.  163.    Merim^,  p.  48. 

Dr.  Lewis,  aller  describing  the  experiment  of  Hoffinann  mentioned  by 
Mr.  Eastlake,*  shows  that  perfect  solutions  of  amber  in  drying  and  other 
oils  may  be  obtained  in  the  following  manner : — *'  In  Dr.  Stockar*s  very 
carious  SpectmoL  Imeatgtarale  ds  fibcctno,  printed  at  Leydcn  in  1760, 
there  are  sundry  more  important  experiments  on  the  subject,  made  by 
himself  conjointly  with  my  worthy  correspondent  Mr.  Ziegler,  of  Win- 
terthur.    They  found  that  by  continuing  a  simmering  heat  twelve  hours, 

*  Materials,  p.  318. 


CHAP.  Tt]  USE  OP  VARNISH  IN  PATNTINO.  CcJxxv 

On  the  tise  of  Varnish  mth  Colours  in  Painting. 

It  has  been  mentioned  that  in  glazing,  varnish  was 
generally  mixed  with  the  colours.  The  practice,  how- 
ever, does  not  appear  to  have  been  universal,  and  the 
same  artist  is  reputed  to  have  employed  different  ma- 
terials upon  different  pictures.  Sometimes  it  is  said 
that  oil  only  was  used  to  paint  with,  and  sometimes  the 


and  ooofining  the  Tapour  as  much  as  stone-ware  Teasels  would  bear  with- 
oat  bursting  (the  danger  of  which  was  avoided  by  making  a  small  notch 
in  the  cork  stoppers),  powdered  amber  dissolved  perfectly  in  expressed 
oils,  in  turpentine,  and  in  balsam  of  copaiba.  A  strong  copper  vessel,  with 
a  cover  screwed  on  it,  seemed  most  eligible ;  and  for  the  greater  security  a 
valve  may  be  made  in  the  cover,  kept  down  by  a  spring  that  shall  give  way 
before  the  confined  vapour  is  of  sufficient  force  to  be  in  any  danger  of  burst- 
ing the  vessel.  Though  such  a  heat  as  converts  part  of  the  oil  into  strong 
elastic  vapours,  and  the  forcible  oompressure  of  the  vapour,  are  expedient  for 
hastening  the  dissolution,  they  do  not  appear  to  be  essentially  necessary ; 
for,  by  digestion  for  a  week  in  close  stopped  glass  vessels,  in  which  the  oom- 
pressure could  not  be  very  great,  solutions  equally  perfect  were  obtained. 

"  The  solution  in  rape-seed  oil,  and  in  oil  of  almonds,  was  of  a  fine 
yellowish  colour ;  in  linseed  oil,  gold  coloured ;  in  oil  of  poppy-seeds,  yel- 
lowish red ;  in  oil  of  ohve,  of  a  beantiful  red ;  in  oil  of  nuts,  deeper  co* 
loured ;  and  in  oil  of  bays,  of  a  purplish  red.  It  is  observable  that  this 
last  oil,  which  of  itself,  in  the  greatest  common  heat  of  the  atmosphere, 
proves  a  thick  butyraceous  consistence,  continued  fluid  when  the  amber 
was  dissolved  in  it  The  solutions  made  with  turpentine  and  with  balsam 
of  copuba  were  of  a  deep  red  colour,  and  on  cooling  hardened  into  a 
brittle  mass  of  the  same  colour.  All  .the  solutions  mingle  perfectly  with 
spirit  of  turpentine.  Those  made  with  the  oils  of  linseed,  bays,  poppy- 
seeds,  and  nuts,  and  with  the  balsam  of  copaiba  and  turpentine,  being 
dilated  with  four  times  their  quantity  of  spirit  of  turpentine,  formed  hard, 
teoadous,  glossy  varnishes,  which  dried  sufficiently  quick,  and  appeared 
greatly  preferable  to  those  made  in  the  common  manner  from  melted  amber. 

'*  My  worthy  friend  Mr.  Ziegler,  in  an  elegant  German  translation  with 
which  he  had  honoured  this  work,  described  a  varnish,  with  the  method  of 
using  it,  which  appeared  from  his  experiments  to  be  the  best  Fine  trans- 
parent amber  reduced  to  powder  is  boiled  in  a  brass  vesKl  having  a  valve 
in  its  eover,  with  as  much  drying  oil  as  will  just  cover  it ;  generally  in  6 
or  6  hoars  the  amber  is  perfectly  dissolved.  Dilute  the  solution  with  four 
or  five  times  its  quantity  of  oil  of  turpentine,  and  let  it  stand  some  days, 
that  all  the  impurities  may  settie  to  the  bottom." — Commercinm  Philoso- 
phico-Technicum,  or  the  Philosophical  Commerce  of  Arts,  by  W.  Lewis, 
London,  1763, 4to.,  p.  366,  &c. 

^2 


cclxxvi  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

colours  are  stated  to  have  been  mixed  with  varnish. 
The  following  instances  and  observations,  referring 
chiefly  to  the  Italian  schools,  will  show  that  varnish 
was  frequently  used,  not  only  in  glazing,  but  in  the 
priming,  and  with  the  shadow  colours. 

Armenini  and  Bisagno  recommend  the  addition  of 
common  varnish  to  the  priming,  to  those  colours  which 
dried  with  difficulty,  and  to  the  glazing  colours.  Bal- 
dinucci  states  ^  that  boiled  oil  (olio  cotto)  was  sometimes 
used  in  the  darkest  parts  instead  of  varnish,  and  in 
other  parts  where  the  colours  had  sunk  in.  From  this 
it  appears  that  it  was  usual  to  mix  varnish  with  the 
dark  shades. 

As  an  additional  proof  of  the  use  of  varnish  in  the 
dark  parts  of  the  picture,  may  be  quoted  the  following 
description  given  by  Vasari*  of  the  method  adopted 
by  Giovan  Francesco  Caroti : — "  He  was  of  opinion, 
and  in  this  he  was  not  far  from  the  truth,  that  varnishing 
was  injurious  to  pictures,  and  that  it  caused  them  to 
appear  old  sooner  than  they  would  do  otherwise ;  and 
for  this  reason,  he  used  varnish  and  certain  purified 
oils  in  the  shades  when  painting.**  This  is  certainly  an 
admission  that  varnish  was  necessary  either  in  the  pic- 
ture or  on  the  surface,  and  that  the  former  was,  by 
Caroti  at  least,  considered  preferable. 

De  Files  mentions  that  in  painting  on  walls,  varnish 
was  mixed  with  the  colours  to  prevent  the  necessity  of 
varnishing  afterwards;*  and  in  the  Italian  edition  of 
this  work^  it  is  stated  that  painting  on  wood  was 
executed  in  the  same  manner  as  on  walls ;  whence  it 
may  be  inferred  varnish  was  mixed  with  the  colours. 
Canepario,  the  Venetian  physician,  says,'  "  others  are 
accustomed   to  mix  colours  with  liquid  varnish  and 


1  Voc.  Dis.,  tit.  Olio  Cotto.  «  Vita  di  Fra  Giooondo  ed  altri. 

>  These  instructioiu  are  as  old  as  Vasari.    See  Int.,  rap.  xix. 
4  Published  at  Turin  in  1769.  »  De  Atramentis,  p.  304. 


CHAP.  VI.]  USE  OF  VARNISH  IN  PAINTING.  cclxxvii 

Unseed  or  nut  oil,  instead  of  white  of  egg  and  gum- 
water  ;  for  a  liquid  and  oily  varnish  binds  the  colours 
better  together,  &c."  The  Marciana  MS.^  describes 
"an  excellent  clear  and  drying  varnish  proper  for  colours, 
both  in  oil-painting  and  in  other  kinds  of  painting." 

These  direct  proofs  of  the  mixture  of  colours  with 
varnish  are  irom  the  works  of  authors  describing  the 
processes  of  their  contemporaries.'  As  an  indirect 
proo^  but  not  the  less  valuable  on  that  account,  is  the 
following  anecdote  related  by  Luigi  Crespi'  of  his 
father  Giuseppe  Maria  Crespi,  called  "  Lo  Spagnuolo." 
"  One  day  Cardinal  Lambertini  was  in  our  house  sitting 
for  his  portrait,  which  my  father  was  painting,  when  one 
of  my  brothers  entered  the  room,  bringing  a  letter, 
just  arrived  by  post,  from  another  brother  who  was  at 
Modena  on  business*  The  Cardinal  took  the  letter, 
and,  on  opening  it,  said  to  my  father,  ^  Gro  on  painting, 
and  I  will  read  it.'  Having  opened  it,  he  began  to 
read  quickly,  inventing  an  imaginary  letter,  in  which 
the  absent  son,  with  the  greatest  expressions  of  shame 
and  humiliation,  prostrated  himself  at  the  feet  of  his 
father,  begging  his  pardon,  and  saying  that  he  had 
found  it  impossible  to  disengage  himself  from  a  stringent 
promise    of  marrying  a    certain  Signora  Apollonia, 

whence but  he  had  hardly  proceeded  thus  far 

when  my  father  leaped  on  to  his  feet,  knocking  over 
palette,  pencUs,  and  chair,  and  upsetting  oil,  vamishy 
dfid  everything  else  which  was  on  the  little  bench,  and 
uttering  all  kinds  of  exclamations.  The  Cardinal  jumped 
up  at  the  same  time  to  quiet  and  pacify  him,  telling  him 
as  well  as  he  could  for  laughing,  that  it  was  all  nonsense, 
and  entirely  an  invention  of  his  own.  Meanwhile  my 
father  was  running  round  the  room  in  despair,  the  Car- 
dinal following  him ;    and   thus  pleasantly  ended  the 

^  P.  633.  s  For  additional  proof  see  the  work  of  Gerard  Luresse, 

cap.  V.  '  Ldvea  of  the  Bologncse  Painters,  p.  220. 


oclxxviii  '.introduction;  [chap.  ti. 

morning's  work.  After  this  time,  whenever  his  Embence 
came  to  see  my  fether,  before  getting  out  of  the  ca]^ 
riage,  he  would  whisper,  ^  that  he  had  no  doubt  Signora 
ApoUonia  was  at  home  with  him.'  " 

It  is  apparent  from  this  passage,  that  Ix)  Spagnuok) 
was  accustomed  to  use  varnish  in  painting,  or  the 
varnish  would  not  have  been  placed  tmth  the  oil  on  the 
low  bench  by  his  side  while  painting  a  portrait,  for 
which  the  Cardinal  was  actually  then  sitting;  it  may 
also  be  inferred  that  varnish  was  still  used  in  painting 
by  Luigi  Crespi,  his  son,  who  rdated  the  anecdote. 
The  period  when  this  scene  took  place  was  between 
1717  and  1732.  Lo  Spagnuolo  studied  first  under 
Angelo  Midiele  Toni,  afterwards  under  Domenico 
Maria  Canuti  (who  was  a  pupil  of  Guido),  and  lastly 
under  Carlo  Cignani ;  and  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  he 
employed  their  technical  processes.  The  use  made  by  Sir 
Peter  Lely  of  varnish  mixed  with  colour,  when  painting 
the  portrait  of  Tillotson,^  may  be  considered  another 
incidental  proof  of  the  use  of  varnish  with  colours. 

To  these  proofs  from  contemporary  writers  may  be 
added  the  evidence  of  those  who  have  cleaned  and 
experimented  on  old  pictures.  Among  the  earliest 
may  be  reckoned  the  declaration  of  Bequeno'that 
some  of  the  pictures  of  Guercino  were  painted  with 
oil  mixed  with  pece  Greca  (the  vernice  comune  of 
the  sixteenth  century),  others  with  gums  and  resins^ 
and  some  with  oil  only;  and  the  letter  written  by 
Hack^'  advocating  the  use  of  varnishes  in  painting. 
The  reply  to  this  letter  *  by  a  gentleman  who  at  that 
period  possessed  the  finest  collection  of  Finnish  pic- 
tures in  Home  is  equally  conclusive.     This  gratleman 


1  Walpole's  Anec*dote8,  toI.  iii.  p.  129. 

*  Sag^  fliil  Ristabilimento,  &€.,  vol.  i.  p.  169,  a. 

s  PublUhed  at  Perugia,  1788. 

^  Inserted  in  the  Giomale  di  Roma,  20th  December,  1768. 


CHAP.  VI.]  USE  OF  VARNISH  IN  PAINTING.  cclxxix 

states  that  varnish  was  always  used  by  those  Italian 
schools  most  distinguished  for  colouring,  and  that  the 
works    of  Domenichino,    who   used  varnish,   were   in 
better  preservation  than  those  of  other  pupils  of  the 
Carracci.    We  may  also  mention  the  certificate,  dated 
1754,   by  Carlo  Gesare  Giovannini  of  Bologna,*   re- 
specting the  state  of  preservation  of  the  celebrated  pic- 
ture by  Raphael  called  the  Madonna  di  S.  Sisto,  which 
he  says  was  until  that  period  intact,  and  had  never  been 
touched  with  varnishes,    or  otherwise,  since  the  day 
when  it  had  been  placed  over  the   altar  of  S.   Sisto, 
perhaps  by  Raphael  himself,  and  on  which  the  varnish 
used  in  retouching  by  Raphael  is  now  visible  on  close 
examination  in  some  rancid-looking  spots  on  the  body 
of  the  infant  Jesus,  where  the  varnish  had  accidentally 
been  left  rather  thick  by  the  pencil  of  the  master.    To 
these    instances  may  be  added  the  evidence  of  Mar- 
cucci,*  of  Palmaroli,'  of  Requeno,^  of  Merim6e,*  of 
Sampieri,'  of  the  professor  mentioned  by  Lanzi,  who 
restored  a  picture  by  Correggio,  and  of  the  other  pro- 
fessors now  living  who  have  been  already  mentioned  in 
this  work.    While,  however,  these  authorities  appear  to 
leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  adoption  by  the  Italians,  during 
the  best  period  of  the  art,  of  varnish  with  colours  on 
certain  parts  of  the  picture,  the  assertion  of  Boschini,'' 
that  in  painting  flesh  the  Venetians  abhorred  like  the 
plague  aJil  lustrous  or  shining  surfaces,   must  not  be 

t  Gualandi,  Memorie,  net. !.  p.  29.  This  picture  was  purchased,  with 
62  otker  celebrated  paintingg,  by  Augustus  III.,  King  of  Poland  and 
Elector  of  Saxooy,  for  40,000  Roman  scudi,  and  was  taken  to  Dresden  by 
GioTannini.  It  was  restored  by  Sig.  P.  Palmaroli,  the  author  of  the  Notes 
to  Marcncci's  Observations  on  the  Practice  of  Painting  in  Oil  of  the  Floren- 
tine, Venetian,  aad  Flemish  Schools  of  Painting  in  their  best  time. 

*  S^ggio,  &c.,  p.  222,  &C.  3  Notes  to  Marcucci,  Saggio,  &c. 

^  Saggio  sul  Ristabilimento  dell'  Antico  Arte  de'  Greci  e  Romani  Pit- 
tori,  Tol.  i.  p.  169,  n.  ^  De  la  Peinture  k  THuile,  p.  xvii.  n.  xz. 

*  See  Lanzi,  Storia  Pittorica,  ed.  of  Pisa,  1823,  note  15  by  Boni. 
^Bioche  Minere. 


cclxxx  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  vi. 

overlooked.  This  assertion,  as  far  as  regards  the  solid ' 
painting,  is  generally  supported  by  the  direction  in  the 
Marciana  MS.,^  to  grind  and  temper  the  colours  with 
oil  as  stiff  as  possible,  and  if  they  were  too  stiff  to 
dilute  them  by  dipping  the  brush  in  oil,  as  well  as  by 
the  evidence  of  the  professors  of  the  art  now  living  at 
Venice.  The  latter  appear  to  consider  that  oil  only 
was  used  in  the  solid  painting,  and  that  the  varnish  was 
reserved  for  the  glazing  and  finishing  colours,  and  es- 
pecially for  such  as  would  be  injured  by  admixture 
with  oil,  such  as  red  lead,  cenere  azzurre,  and  others. 

The  same  may  also  be  observed  with  regard  to  the 
later  Bolognese  school ;  and  this  appears  to  have  been 
the  opinion  of  Lanzi,  who,  in  describing  the  manner  of 
Lo  Spagnuolo,  says  that  ^'he  used  gums  in  painting 
(per  colorire)  in  the  same  way  as  others  used  them  in 
glazing."  The  Farmasan  school  are  also  stated  to  have 
painted  in  the  same  manner — namely,  the  solid  colours 
with  oil,  and  the  glazing  colours  with  varnish. 

The  present  state  of  a  picture  by  Tintoretto  in  the 
Casa  Barbarigo  at  Venice  is  instructive  as  to  the 
practice  of  this  artist  The  surface  of  the  picture 
alluded  to  is  generally  dull,  as  if  the  varnish  had  been 
removed  or  worn  ofl^  with  the  exception  of  certain  dark 
parts,  and  of  the  foliage,  which  are  glossy,  as  if  these 
colours  had  been  mixed  with  varnish. 

Of  Varnishing  Pictures. 

Pictures  painted  in  the  Flemish  manner,  or  finished 
with  colours  mixed  with  varnish,  did  not  require  the 
superposition  of  varnish  when  complete,  and  we  find 
that  even  in  the  time  of  Lebrun  and  Lana  the  cus- 
tom of  varnishing  finished  pictures  was  not  universal. 
The  latter  Remarks  (p.  165),  "  when  the  painting  is 
finished,  some  painters  are  accustomed  to  varnish  it,  in 

"  P.  627. 


CHAP.  VI,]  PREPARATION  OF  GROUNDS.  cclxxxi' 

order  that  the  work  may  appear  more  smooth  and 
brilliant"  And  Lebrun/  after  directing  white  of  egg 
to  be  spread  over  the  picture  to  preserve  it  from  dust 
and  fly-marksy  adds,  "  when  necessary,  the  picture  may 
be  cleaned  by  passing  a  wet  cloth  over  it,  which  easily 
removes  the  white  of  egg,  with  the  dust  attached  to  it' 
This,"  he  adds,  **  could  not  be  done  with  varnish.** 
These  passages,  therefore,  may  be  considered  evidence 
of  the  truth  of  Vasari's  statement  that  pictures  painted 
according  to  the  process  invented  by  Van  Eyck  re- 
quired no  varnish.  It  may  also  be  collected  from  an 
expression  of  Vasari's,  in  his  account  of  Giovan  Fran- 
cesco Caroti,'  that  the  biographer  disapproved  of 
varnishing  pictures ;  he  says,  "  Caroti  was  of  opinion, 
and  in  this  he  was  not  far  from  the  truth,  that  var- 
nishing pictures  spoiled  them,  and  made  them  appear 
old  sooner  than  they  otherwise  would  do.*' 

The  feet  that  pictures  were  generally  varnished  is, 
however,  too  well  authenticated  to  require  any  proof. 

On  the  Preparation  of  the  Chrounds. 

There  is  nothing,  perhaps,  on  which  the  durability  of 
a  picture  so  much  depends  as  on  the  goodness  of  the 
ground ;  and  at  the  same  time  there  is,  perhaps,  no  part 
of  a  picture  on  which  the  opinions  of  artists  have  been 
so  much  divided  as  on  the  manner  of  preparing  the 
grounds ;  some  painters  preferring  white  grounds,  others 
dark  grounds ;  some  electing  to  paint  on  absorbent 
grounds,  others  on  non-absorbent  grounds  ;  while  others 
reject  all  preparations  but  a  coat  or  two  of  size  to  fill  up 
the  pores  of  the  wood,  or  the  holes  of  the  canvass. 

The  subject  of  the  preparation  of  panels  and  canvass 
forms  an  important  part  of  most  of  the  old  treatises. 

The  earliest  paintings  in  oil  were  generally  executed 

1  P.  816.  *  See  the  disadvantages  of  white  of  egg  as  a  vamiRh 

described  in  a  letter  by  Hackert,  1788.  «  Vita  di  Fra  Giocondo  cd  altri. 


ockxxii  INTRODUCTION.  [ouf.  vl 

on  panels.  The  panels  were  composed  of  Tarioos  pieces 
of  wood  cemented  together  with  cheese  glue,  ami  this 
glue  caused  them  to  adhere  so  firmly  together,  that 
such  panels  were  considered  stronger  Aan  those  which 
consisted  of  one  piece  of  wood  only.  Strips  ctf  linen 
were  usually  glued  over  the  joinings  of  the  panels,  and 
in  some  cases  the  panel  was  entirely  covered  with  linen. 
Animal  glue  was  used  f(»r  this  purpose. 

Several  coats  of  warm  glue,  which  filled  up  the  pores 
of  the  wood,  were  then  to  be  applied. 

The  Italian  name  for  the  next  process  is  ingessare} 
This  consisted  in  the  application  of  several  thin  coats 
of  size '  and  gesso  marcio*  over  the  sur&ce  of  the  panel, 
which  when  dry  was  carefiiUy  smoothed  with  a  knife  or 
pumice  stone. 

Upon  this  preparation  the  old  tempera  painteis  were 
accustomed  to  apply  a  coat  of  Armaiian  bole  mixed 
with  glue,  on  which  they  spread  leaf  gold ;  a  practice 
which,  though  gradually  discontinued,  was  sometimes 
adopted  in  oil-painting,  and  was  occasionally  practised 
in  Italy .^  In  Flanders  the  practice  was  continued  to  a 
comparatively  late  period.  The  gold  ground  was  con- 
sidered to  give  great  brilliancy  to  the  colours.^ 

This  practice,  however,  was  not  universal;  the 
grounds  were  more  frequently  left  white ;  but  in  this 
state  they  would  absorb  the  oil  from  the  colours  applied 


1  See  Bol.  MS.,  p.  695.    Vasari,  Int.,  cap.  xx.,  xxi.    Cennini,  oap.czT. 

s  The  darability  of  the  painting  depends  much  on  the  ghw  being  employed 
of  the  proper  strength.  It  Is  better  that  it  should  be  too  weak  than  too 
strong.  See  Volpato  MS.,  p.  728,  732;  Bol.  MS.,  p.  596;  Palomino, 
vol.  ii.  p.  47. 

*  Piaster  of  Paris  stirred  with  water  until  it  loses  its  power  of  settmg.— 
Third  Report  of  the  Commissioners  on  the  Fine  Arts,  p.  47,  n,  CeniuDit 
cap.  cxvi.    Other  writers  call  the  plaster  "  gesso  sottile.** 

4  Zanetti  states  (Delle  Pittnra  Veneziana,  p.  194)  that  some  pictaresbj 
Paolo  Veronese,  in  the  Foodaoo  de'  Tedeschi  at  Venice,  are  executed  on 
gilt  leather. 

B  See  Baldinucci,  Vite  de'  Fittori,  vol.  vL  p.  262. 


diAP.  Ti.]  PREPAJEUTION  OF  GROUNDS.  cckxxiii 

on  them,  unless  prevented  by  the  application  of  several 
coats  of  size,  varnish,  boiled  oil,^  or  of  colour  mixed 
with  oil  * — ^practices  which  prevailed  generally  in  Italy 
during  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies, except  in  Venice,  where  some  artists  used  ab- 
sorbent grounds,  as  will  be  hereafter  noticed;  the 
painters  of  the  other  schools,  however,  adhered  to  the 
general  practice  of  employing  white  and  non-absorbent 
grounds. 

The  use  of  linen  for  grounds  is  considered  to  have 
been  an  invention  of  the  Germans  or  Flemings,  and  by 
them  introduced  into  Italy.'  The  canvass  prepared  by 
the  Flemings  was  in  great  repute  in  the  time  of  Bor- 
ghini,  for  the  facility  with  which  it  could  be  rolled 
vidiout  cracking/ 

The  Venetians  are  generally  considered  to  have  been 
die  first  among  the  Italians  who  adopted  the  custom  of 
painting  on  canvass,  on  which  they  were  able  to  execute 
larger  paintmgs  than  they  could  on  wood,  and  which 
combuied  the  advantages  of  lightness,  cheapness,  and 
portability.  The  practice,  however,  necessarily  caused 
an  alteration  in  the  nature  of  the  ground,  which  on 
canvass  was  required  to  be  composed  of  pliant  and 
elastic  materials,  not  liable  to  crack  or  be  detached 
when  the  canvass  was  rolled  up ;  and  this  has  always 
been  found  a  great  diflSculty. 

Great  diversity  of  opinion  exists  among  writers  on 


^  Merimie,  do  Sa  Pemture  k  THutle,  p.  15  ;  Lanzi,  vol.  i?«  p.  71  n. 

*  Vaaari,  Int,Gap.zz].  Armenini,  lib.  ii.  cap.  is.  The  oolonr  usually 
cnployed  for  this  purpose  was  a  warm  tint  indining  to  yellow  or  flesh 
tfAom ;  it  sometimes  consisted  of  yellow  ochre,  #r  minium  ground  in  oil. 
Frt  Btrtoloiiieo  is  said  to  have  used  sometimes  eney  and  sometimes  the 
other  of  these  colours.    See  Marcuoci,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  218. 

*  Painted  doth  as  a  substitute  for  window  glass,  and  waters  for  painting 
on  linen,  rilk,  or  woollen,  are  mentioned  in  the  Bolognese  MS.,  pp.  491, 
4M.  It  is  probable  that  the  latter  were  for  artides  of  dress  or  the  hanging 
of  rooms. 

Riposo,  p.  136. 


cclxxxiv  INTRODUCTION.  [cbat,  ti. 

painting  as  to  the  most  eligible  mode  of  preparing  can- 
vass ;  and  several  processes  are  recorded  as  having  been 
employed  by  good  artists.  In  general  the  coats  of 
gesso  were  omitted  on  cloth/  it  being  considered  that 
they  were  liable  to  crack  when  the  picture  was  rolled. 

Yasari  recommends  that  three  or  four  coats  of  size 
should  be  applied,  and  upon  them  a  mixture  composed 
of  flour  paste  with  nut  oil,  and  a  little  white  lead, 
should  be  spread  with  a  knife  and  smoothed  with  the 
hand,  so  as  to  fill  up  all  the  holes ;  then  one  or  two 
other  coats  of  weak  size  should  be  applied,  and  lastly 
the  priming.  Armenini  also  recommends  several 
€oats  of  glue,  one  of  which  was  to  be  applied  on  the 
back  of  the  canvass.  The  same  author  states'  that 
"  painters  were  in  the  habit  of  filling  up  the  holes  of 
the  canvass  with  a  mixture  composed  of  flour  paste,  and 
a  third  part  of  white  lead,  before  the  glue  was  applied. 
On  this  preparation  the  priming,  which  consisted  of 
white  lead,  giallolino,  and  terra  di  campane,  or  of  ver- 
digris, white  lead,  and  umber,  was  spread.  But  the 
preparation  he  especially  recommended  was  a  light 
flesh  colour  inclining  to  the  colour  of  flame,  by  means  of 
the  varnish,  of  which  rather  more  than  the  usual  quantity 
was  to  be  added,  because  it  was  observed  that  ^^  this 
added  to  the  efiect  of  the  colours,  especially  the  blues 
and  reds,  without  causing  them  to  change ;  for,"  con- 
tinues Armenini,  ^*  it  is  known  that  oil  darkens  and 
sullies  all  the  colours,  which  appear  soiled  and  dirty 
in  proportion  to  the  darkness  of  the  ground  beneath 
them.**  He  adds  that  those  who  were  desirous  that  the 
colours  should  not  change  from  the  effects  of  time, 
made  the  grounds  almost  entirely  of  white  lead,  adding 
to  them  a  sixth  part  of  varnish,  and  a  little  red,  and 
when  this  was  dry  they  polished  the   surface,   upon 

I  See  Yasari,  Int,  cap.  xxiii.    Armenini,  lib.  ii.  cap.  viii. 

s  Lib.  ii.  cap.  ijL. 


CHAP.  VI.]  PREPARATION  OP  GROUNDS.  cclxxxv 

which  they  either  drew  or  traced  the  outlines.  In  a 
note  to  this  passage,  Signor  Falmaroli  ^  observes  that 
he  has  sometimes  found  in  grounds  ochre  or  red  lead 
mixed  with  the  gesso,  upon  which  was  laid  a  coat  of 
oil  diluted  with  spirit  of  turpentine,  applied  with  a 
piece  of  cotton  or  a  sponge. 

Borghini  states'  that  the  Flemish  canvass,  which 
could  be  easily  rolled  and  carried  everywhere,  was 
prepared  simply  with  one  or  two  coats  of  size,  and  that 
it  was  then  coloured,  taking  care  to  fill  the  holes  of  the 
cloth  with  the  colours.  He  also  recommends  *  one  coat 
of  size  and  two  of  priming,  particularly  if  the  canvass 
was  to  be  rolled  and  removed  to  another  country.  He 
mentions  that  canvass  was  sometimes  prepared  by  ap- 
plying a  coat  of  gesso  and  flour,  boiled  in  linseed  oil. 
Other  authors  recommend  a  priming  of  potter's  earth  * 
mixed  with  oil,  and  applied  upon  a  coat  of  size  or  flour 
paste.*  Pacheco*  mentions  a  mixture  of  flour  paste, 
salad  oil,'  and  a  little  honey ;  and  when  this  application 
was  quite  dry,  and  had  been  smoothed  with  pumice- 
stone,  then  a  coat  or  two  of  priming  was  applied. 
Other  painters,  he  states,  first  apply  size  made  from  the 
parings  of  leather,  then  a  coat  of  siiled  ashes  instead 
of  gesso,  which  after  being  smoothed  with  pumice- 
stone  was  covered  with  the  priming  of  almagra  (a  red 
earth),  ground  with  linseed  oil ;  these  grounds,  Pacheco 
says,  were  used  at  Madrid.  Another  kind  of  priming, 
according  to  the  same  author,  was  composed  of  white 
lead,  red  lead,  charcoal  black,  and  linseed  oil  upon  the 
gesso  ground.  Pacheco,  however,  disapproved  of  all 
these  methods :  he  says,  "  I  know  by  experience  that 

1  Notes  to  Marcucci,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  207.  >  Riposo,  p.  136. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  138.  4  This  earth  was  called  by  the  Italians  Ter- 
fctta,  Terra  di  Cave,  Terra  da  Boccale. 

*  Volpato,  p.  780.  «  Tratado,  p.  883. 

^  Palomino  (?ol.  li.  p.  46)  says  linseed  oil  should  be  used,  and  not 
ttl>d  oil,  which  is  prejudicial  to  the  picture. 


cclxxxvi  INTRODUCTION,  [chaf.  ti. 

flour-paste,  gesso,  and  ashes  are,  in  time,  affected  by 
damp,  and  that  they  decay,  together  with  the  canvass  ;*' 
and  he  finally  recommends  the  application  of  a  few  coats 
of  size,  and  dien  two  coats  of  priming,  composed  of  the 
potter's  clay  ^  used  at  Seville,  ground  up  with  linseed 
oil,  each  coat  being  polished  with  pumice^tone  when 
dry.  Upon  this  was  spread  a  third  coat,  to  which  a 
little  white-lead  might  be  added  or  not,  at  pleasure.  He 
observes,  that  although  weak  size  made  the  cloth  more 
supple,  it  might  be  omitted.  This,  Padieco  states^  is 
the  best  kind  of  priming,  and  that  which  he  always  used 
himself;  because  he  had  remarked  that  the  six  pictures 
which  he  began  in  1600,  in  the  cloisters  belonging  to 
the  monastery  of  the  Order  of  Mercy,  on  this  kind  of 
ground,  were  in  good  preservation  when  he  wrote  his 
work  (which  was  published  in  1649)>  and  showed  no 
symptoms  of  scaling  off. 

The  directions  given  by  Palomino^  resemble  so 
nearly  those  of  Pacheco  that  it  is  useless  to  repeat 
them.  It  may,  however,  be  observed  that  the  former 
mentions  that  in  Andalusia  canvass  was  frequently 
primed  with  a  kind  of  clay,  washed  up  by  the  rivers 
when  they  rose ;  or,  if  this  coukl  not  be  had,  with 
chalk,  which  was  ground  up  with  almagra :  adding  to 
it,  when  ground,  some  old  colours  (those  which  are 
cleaned  from  the  palette  and  brushes'),  if  they  could  be 
obtained,  or  in  default  of  this  a  dark  colour,  called 
sombre  del  Viejo,  should  be  added  to  assist  the  drying, 
the  clay  and  chalk  being  bad  dryers. 

The  custom  of  using  gesso  grounds  on  cloth  was, 
however,  never  entirely  abandoned,^  and,  among  other 
artists,  they  were  used  by  Bassano.    With  regard  to  the 

>  Called  at  Madrid  **  Tierra  de  Esquirias*'  (Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  4S))  pro- 
bably similar  to  the  Terra  da  Boccale  of  the  ItaKans. 

*  Vol.  ii.  p.  46~-48.  8  See  Volpato,  p.  733. 

4  See  Armeniniy  lib.  ii.  cap.  yiii.  Borghini,  p.  18S.  Pacheco,  p^  3SS, 
384. 


CHAP.  ¥ij  PREPARATION  OP  GROUNDS.  cclxxxvii 

pictures  of  this  artist,  Yolpato  mentions  having  re- 
marked that  those  painted  on  grounds  prepared  with  a 
small  quantity  of  gesso  were  in  good  condition,  while 
the  colours  scaled  off  those  pictures  on  which  much  had 
been  used.  The  directions  given  by  Yolpato  ^  as  to  the 
preparation  of  grounds  need  not  be  alluded  to  here,  as 
they  are  contained  in  the  work. 

To  return  to  the  gesso  grounds:  it  is  asserted  that 
they  were  used  also  by  the  Bolognese  painters,  Sam- 
aochini,  Sabbatini,  and  Tibaldi,  both  on  canvass  and 
panels.  Gorreggio  also  is  said  to  have  prepared  his 
eanvaas  with  a  very  thin  coat  of  size  and  gesso,  over 
which  he  laid  a  coat  of  boiled  oil.' 

As  to  the  colour  of  the  priming,  the  weight  of  au- 
thority is  in  &vour  of  white  grounds.'  Mr.  Eastlake 
observes  (Goethe  on  Colours,  p.  378),  "  the  secret  of 
Van  Eyck  and  his  contemporaries  is  always  assumed  to 
consist  in  the  vehicle  (varnish  or  oils)  he  employed ; 
but  a  &r  more  important  condition  of  the  splendour  of 
colour  of  the  works  of  those  masters  was  the  careful 
preservation  of  internal  light  by  painting  thinly,  but 
ultimately  with  great  force,  on  white  grounds."  As  an 
additional  argument  in  favour  of  white  grounds,  it  may 
be  stated  that  modern  Italian  artists  are  now  so  con- 
vinced of  the  propriety  of  employing  them,  that  they 
bave  almost  all  returned  to  the  use  of  them.  When  I 
was  in  Italy,  I  was  informed  that  the  Academy  of 
Parma  had  recentiy  decided  against  the  authenticity  of 
a  picture  attributed  to  Gorreggio,  because  it  was  painted 
on  a  red  ground;  the  Academicians  considering  that 
none  but  white  grounds  were  in  use  during  the  life  of 


>  VoIpatOy  p.  729 — ^733.  >  Lanzi,  vol.  it.  p.  71  and  o. 

•  See  LioMurdo  da  Vinci,  Trattato,  cap.  c. ;  Du  Freanoy,  Art  of  Paini- 
ng, with  the  Commentary  of  Dc  Pilea ;  Orsini,  Vita  di  Pietro  Peru- 
gino;  Algarotti,  Lettere  sopra  la  Pittura,  vol.  viii.  p.  50,  51,  Venezia,  1792 ; 
Delaval  on  Coioura ;  and  Q^iatremdre  de  Quincy,  Life  of  Rafiaelle. 


cclxxxyiii  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  ti. 

this  artist    There  is,  however,  some  diversity  of  opinion 
as  to  the  expediency  of  their  being  non-absorbent 

Sometimes  the  grounds  were  prepared  by  giving  the 
canvass  a  few  coats  of  glue  only,  without  other  priming.* 
The  paintings  by  Callot,  at  Venice,  are  prepared  in  this 
way ;  and  a  picture  by  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  or  one  of 
his  scholars,  mentioned  by  Amoretti,  and  in  the  pos- 
session of  Signor  Mussi,  is  executed  on  canvass  pre- 
pared with  size  only.*  Pictures  so  prepared  stand  well. 
Fozzo,  the  Jesuit,  also  painted  on  the  same  grounds, 
but  his  pictures  are  much  changed,  probably  from  other 
causes ;  for  F^libien  remarks '  that  if  the  canvass  were 
not  primed  at  all,  but  painted  on  at  once,  the  colours 
would  bear  out  better  and  remain  more  brilliant 

Various  grounds  were  in  use  in  the  Venetian  school. 
A  Venetian  professor  communicated,  among  other  par- 
ticulars, the  following  information  as  the  result  of  bis 
experiments  on  the  grounds  of  the  old  Venetian  pic- 
tures : — "  The  grounds  were  made  of  gesso  and  very 
weak  size  ;  sometimes  a  little  black^  was  added  by  Gian 
Bellino  and  others.  Over  this  were  laid  one  or  two 
coats  of  glue  to  prevent  the  ground  being  too  absorbent ; 
the  glue  was  made  of  the  parings  of  leather.**  This 
information  was  confirmed  by  other  professors  of  Venice 
and  Verona. 

With  respect  to  the  grounds  used  by  Titian,  I  was 
informed  that  this  great  artist  employed  a  ground  of 
"gesso  marcio,"*  taking  especial  care  not  to  use  too 
much  glue,  and  that  this  slightly  absorbent  ground  was 
useful  in  getting  rid  of  some  of  the  oil.     It  is  certain, 

1  Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  46. 

s  Amoretti,  Meroorie  Storiche  di  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  p.  165. 

3  Principes,  &c.,  p.  297. 

^  These  grey  grounds  were  abo  used  in  the  Flemish  school.  The  series 
of  pictures  by  Rubens  of  the  life  of  Mary  de'  Medicis  are  punted  on  a  grey 
preparation. 

^  Compare  Merim^e,  de  la  Peinture  k  THuile,  p.  241 ;  De  Piles,  £le* 
mens  de  Peinture,  p.  130. 


CHAP.  VI.]  PREPARATION  OP  GROUNDS.  cclxxxix 

however,  that  Titian  sometimes  employed  a  non- 
absorbent  ground,  since  a  restorer  of  pictures  at  Verona 
stated  that  he  had  found  on  the  gesso-ground  a  coat 
of  strong  glue,  made  of  pig's  skin  (much  used  in  the 
Venetian  territories),  which  was  very  hard  and  shining, 
and  on  which  the  picture  was  painted.  This  was  pro- 
bably the  case  with  Titian's  picture  of  S.  Pietro  Martire, 
which,  when  at  Paris,  was  transferred  from  panel  to 
canvass.  The  author  of  the  *  Histoire  de  la  Peinture 
en  Italie,'  *  who  was  present  at  the  operation,  remarks, 
"  I  observed  that  the  ground  and  the  painting  were  not 
consolidated  together,  but  were  laid  one  upon  the 
other." 

Titian  is  said  sometimes  to  have  used  a  red  ground 
made  of  terra  rossa  with  size,  and  Merimee  mentions 
that,  on  analysing  the  ground  of  a  picture  by  Titian,  he 
found  flour-'paste  and  gesso,  but  no  glua' 

Tintoretto  is  stated  to  have  painted  his  celebrated 
Crucifixion  in  the  Scuola  of  S.  Bocco  on  a  simple  pre- 
paration of  flour-paste,  and  this  picture  is  in  excellent 
preservation.  Many  painters,  and  especially  Volpato, 
Pacheco,  and  Palomino,  object  to  the  flour  paste.  The 
reason  assigned  by  Volpato  i^  that  if  the  paste  is  too 
stifl^  it  causes  the  colour  to  scale  off;  and  if  too  weak, 
the  picture  is  liable  to  decay  from  damp.  He  states, 
also,  that  it  was  frequently  used  by  those  who  primed 
bad  canvass,  which  would  decay  in  a  few  years, 
because  it  was  useful  in  filling  up  the  threads  of  the 
canvass. 

Paul  Veronese  generally  painted  on  a  twilled  canvass, 

1  M.  B.  A.  A.,  Pant,  1817. 

s  Merim^,  de  la  Peinture  k  rHaile,  p.  241.     On  this  mibject  Botchini 
(U  Carta  del  Nafegar,  &c.  p.  839)  8ay»— 

**  La  prontezsa  ze  metene  davanti 
Una  gran  tela,  e  de  farina  propria 
Tamiaar,  e  impastar  figure  in  oopia, 
£  senza  natural,  far  casi  tanti." 

VOL.  I.  ' 


CCXC  INTRODUCTION.  Tchap.  vi. 

called  in  Venice  "  terlise,**  which  he  prepared  with  a 
very  thin  coat  of  glue  and  gesso ;  so  thin  as  to  show  the 
texture  of  the  cloth  through  the  paint  This  coat, 
being  absorbent,^  imbibed  the  superfluous  oil  which 
darkened  the  threads  of  the  canvass. 

Sig.  Pietro  Edwards,  whose  opportunities  of  ex- 
amining pictures  of  the  Venetian  school  were  perhaps 
greater  than  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  any  other  person,  has 
recorded  his  opinion  that  these  grounds  were  best 
adapted  to  ensure  the  durability  of  paintings ;  and  in 
support  of  this  opinion  he  instances  the  three  pictures 
by  Paolo  Veronese,  representing  the  legend  of  Sta. 
Cristina,  which  were  executed,  with  very  few  re- 
paintings,  either  on  a  ground  of  gesso  not  hardened 
by  strong  size,  or  on  canvass,  with  a  thin  coating  of 
gesso,  the  colours  of  which  were,  he  says,  so  fresh  that 
they  appeared  to  have  been  painted  but  two  days  instead 
of  two  hundred  years.* 

The  same  favourable  opinion  of  white  tempera 
grounds  is  expressed  by  De  Piles ;'  but  he  adds  that 
they  have  the  disadvantage  of  being  liable  to  crack  when 
rolled  up.  This  was  the  case  with  the  celebrated  Nozze 
di  Cana  by  Paolo  Veronese,  which,  on  its  arrival  at 
Paris,  was  found  to  be  in  such  a  state  as  to  render  it 
necessary  to  line  it  with  great  care  in  order  to  prevent 
its  scaling  entirely  from  the  canvass.  This  operation, 
with  some  necessary  reparations,  was  performed  at  the 
Louvre  with  all  requisite  care  and  attention.  But  when, 
in  1815,  the  picture  was  about  to  be  restored  to  Venice, 
according  to  the  treaty,  it  was  perceived  that  the  colours 
crumbled  off  and  fell  into  dust  at  the  slightest  movement 
To  continue  the  operation,  therefore,  was  to  expose  one 
of  the  finest  works  of  the  Venetian  school  to  certain 
destruction ;  and  the  committee  decided  that  the  picture 

1  See  the  Dissertation  of  Sig.  Pietro  Edwards,  p.  887,  888. 
s  See  p.  888.  s  Eldmens,  p.  131. 


CHAP,  vi,]  PREPARATION  OF  GROUNDS.  CCXCl 

of  Paolo  should  remain  at  Paris,  and  that  a  painting  of 
Lebrun's  should  be  sent  to  Venice  in  its  stead.^ 

Absorbent  grounds  of  size  and  gesso  are  considered 
to  have  been  employed  by  the  Parinasan  school. 

Various  contrivances  were  resorted  to  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  cracking  of  pictures  when  the  canvass  was  rolled. 
Some  artists  added  honey  and  oil  to  the  preparation  of 
size  and  gesso  ;^  but  the  Venetian  artists  are  stated  tradi- 
tionally to  have  used  milk  for  this  purpose.  All  writers 
speak  of  the  necessity  of  the  grounds  on  canvass  being 
thin,  as  a  means  of  preventing  their  cracking. 

With  regard  to  the  use  of  white  lead  ui  the  priming, 
the  general  opinion  seems  to  be  that  it  is  injurious.  It 
has  been  stated  that  any  picture  in  which  white  lead 
was  used  in  the  grounds  would  infallibly  crack  in  less 
than  fifty  years ;  and  that  pictures  painted  on  a  ground 
of  white  lead  and  oil  would  moreover  turn  brown.  The 
pictures  of  Longhi  (born  in  1702,  and  living  in  1762) 
are  in  good  preservation,  with  the  exception  of  the 
grounds,  which  are  full  of  large  cracks,  attributed  by 
the  -Italian  restorers  to  the  use  of  white  lead  in  the 
grounds.  Neither  Palomino,  Pacheco,  Borghini,  Vol- 
pato,  nor  Lebrun  recommend  white  lead  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  grounds.  Vasari  and  Armenini  and  some 
few  modern  painters,  on  the  contrary,  are  in  favour  of  it 

1  This  account  was  given  by  the  French  painter  M.  Camille  Rogier  to 
Sig.  Cigogna,  who  inserted  it  in  his  ^  Iscrizioni  Yeneziane,'  vol.  iv.  p.  328. 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  the  reader  to  know  that  the  snm  received 
bjr  Paolo  for  painting  this  picture  was  324  ducats,  and  not  90,  as  asserted  by 
Algarotti.  The  original  contract,  with  the  signature  of  Paolo,  is  preserved 
among  the  papers  belonging  to  the  Monastery  of  S.Giorgio  Maggiore  at  Venice. 
It  has  been  copied  and  published  by  Sig.  £.  A.  Cigogna  in  the  4th  volume 
of  the  *  Iscrizioni  Veneziane.'  It  may  also  be  interesting  to  know  that  the 
date  of  the  contract  was  the  6th  of  June,  1562 ;  and  the  day  on  which  Paolo 
gave  his  receipt  for  the  money,  on  the  completion  of  the  picture,  was  the  6th 
of  October,  1563  :  so  that  the  picture  was  b^un  and  finished  in  16  months. 

>  Pacbeoo,  p.  883 ;  Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  47  ;  and  see  Ballard's  Traitd  de 
Mignatare,  p.  220.  Salmon's  Polygraphices,  p.  80.  Marcucci,  Saggio,  &c., 
p.  206,  n. 

t2 


ccxcii  INTRODUCTION.  {chap.  vi. 

The  Carracci  are  said  to  have  used  white  lead  in  their 
grounds.  "  The  only  priming  used  by  Ludovico  was  a 
slight  coat  of  white  lead  and  ochre,  with  sufficient  oil 
to  ensure  a  smooth  surface,  and  he  made  use  of  this 
priming  as  a  shadow  colour.  Annibale,  his  cousin, 
sometimes  used  a  mixture  of  ^  creta '  and  white  lead 
for  his  grounds.  Guercino  instead  of  *  creta'  em- 
ployed marble  dust ;  and  with  this  his  pictures  in  his 
first  manner  are  thinly  primed ;  in  the  second  manner 
the  priming  is  thicker." 

Some  artists,  and  especially  Guido,  painted  occa- 
sionally on  silk,  which  was  thought  to  be  more  durable 
than  linen  cloth.  It  was  frequently  prepared  for  paint- 
ing by  applying  a  coat  of  size,  to  which  a  little  honey 
was  added  to  prevent  its  cracking,  and  on  this  the 
priming  was  laid.* 

Pictures  were  frequently  painted  on  copper,  and  in 
this  case  the  only  preparation  necessary  was  a  coat  of 
glue,  which  prevented  the  oil  from  acting  on  the  colours. 

The  introduction  of  dark  grounds  into  Bolc^a  is 
attributed  to  the  Carracci.  They  were  introduced  into 
Venice  by  Falma  Giovane,  who  has  been  called  the  last 
of  the  good  Venetian  painters,  and  the  first  of  the  bad. 

On  a  careful  examination  of  the  different  authoriti^ 
it  appears  that  pictures  painted  on  a  ground  of  gesso  are 
the  most  durable,  but  that  when  this  material  is  used  on 
canvass  the  greatest  care  is  necessary  to  prevent  its 
cracking.  It  also  appears  that  when  the  surface  of  the 
gesso  ground  has  been  polished  quite  smooth  with 
pumice-stone,  one  or  two  coats  of  glue  made  from  pig's 
skin,  and  perhaps  a  coat  of  varnish  or  oil,  if  the  picture 
is  to  be  painted  in  the  Flemish  manner,  should  be 
applied  to  prevent  absorption.  But  if  the  Venetian 
manner  of  painting  is  pursued,  the  thin  distemper  ground 
used  by  Paolo  Veronese  is  considered  best  adapted  to 

1  Ballard's  Traitd  de  Mignature,  p.  229. 


CHIP.  Ti.]  METHODS  OF  PAINTING.  CCXCUi 

promote  the  durability  of  the  picture.  The  great  re- 
quisites in  grounds  for  canvass  are  thinness,  whiteness, 
and  flexibility,  and  a  perfectly  smooth  surface. 


Methods  of  Painting. 

In  examining  the  technical  processes  of  oil-painting 
in  the  North  of  Italy,  it  will  be  seen  that  they  arrange 
themselves  under  two  great  divisions :  in  the  first,  which 
may  be  called  the  Flemish  process,  the  picture  was 
begun  in  chiaroscuro,  and  finished  with  the  local  colours ; 
in  the  second,  or  Italian  process,  which  was  introduced 
in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  picture 
was  commenced  wfth  the  local  colours  painted  solidly 
with  oil,  white  being  introduced  into  the  cool  grey  or 
bluish  shadows,  and  was  finished  with  warm  glazings. 
The  former  system  was  generally  adopted  in  Lombardy 
and  Bologna ;  the  latter  in  Venice,  where  it  originated : 
but  this  arrangement  was  not  without  exceptions,  and  in 
later  times  the  Venetian  method  was  preferred  to  the 
Flemish,  which  has  almost  fallen  into  disuse  and  ob- 
livion in  Italy.  Both  methods,  however,  underwent 
various  modifications  according  to  the  genius  or  the 
caprice  of  the  different  professors  of  painting,  and  so 
great  was  the  diversity  in  the  technical  habits  of  the 
Italian  painters,  that  the  pictures  of  the  same  artist  are 
frequently  found  to  have  been  painted  in  various  man- 
ners and  with  different  materials.  Thus  Titian  is  said 
to  have  changed  his  method  several  times,  and  Requeno 
relates  ^  that  he  has  seen  pictures  by  Guercino  in  some 
of  which  oil  only  had  been  used,  in  others  oil  and  pece 
Greca,  and  in  others  resins  and  gums.  The  fiinda- 
mental  principle  in  all  may,  however,  be  traced  to  one 
or  other  of  the  above-mentioned  sources. 

In  the  early  period  of  painting  in  oil  the  same  pro* 

^  Saggi  sol  RisUbiliinento,  &c.,  rol.  i.  p.  169,  n. 


CCXciv  INTRODUCTION.  [chaf.  vl 

cess  of  painting  was  observed  throughout  Italy,  as  well 
as  in  Flanders  and  Germany.  The  process  may  be 
thus  briefly  described : — 

The  ground  being  properly  prepared,  the  next  process 
was  to  draw  the  subject  of  the  picture.  This  was  fre- 
quently done  with  black  chalk  or  black-lead  pencil,  but 
in  order  to  insure  greater  correctness  the  subject  was 
frequently  traced  in  the  usual  way  from  a  drawing  on 
paper.  Baroccio  always  adopted  the  latter  method,^  and 
the  outlines  deeply  indented,  as  if  with  a  style,  may  be 
seen  in  a  large  unfinished  picture  by  him  in  the  library 
of  the  Archiginnasio  at  Bologna.  The  outline  was  then 
secured  by  marking  over  it  with  a  brown  colour  (as  in 
the  unfinished  picture  by  Lionardo  da  Vinci  in  the  gal- 
lery of  Brera  at  Milan),  or  with  a  tint  composed'  of  car- 
mine and  dark  ochre.* 

When  describing  the  different  kinds  of  grounds  used 
in  painting,  I  have  mentioned  that  a  coat  of  size,  of 
varnish,  or  of  boiled  oil  was  applied  upon  the  gesso 
ground  to  render  it  non-absorbent ;'  but  Mr.  Eastlake 
has  proved  *  that  the  outline  was  occasionally,  at  least, 
drawn  before  this  last  application,  and  the  coating  of 
size  or  the  warm  transparent  oil  priming  was  spread 
over  the  outline.  It  is  probable  that  this  plan  was 
adopted  in  the  Venetian  school,  and  it  may  be  observed 
that  sketches  by  Tintoretto  are  still  in  existence  which 
were  begun  in  chiaroscuro  with  water  colours,  and  then 
oiled,  the  local  colours  being  afterwards  painted  in 
their  places  with  oil.  To  this  instance  may  be  added 
the  passage  quoted  by  Walpole  *  fi^m  the  Pocket-book 
of  Mr.  Beale,  in  which  it  is  mentioned  that  Lely  "  ap- 

1  See  Bellori,  Vite  de'  Pittori.  p.  117.    Lonzi,  vol.  ii.  p.  124. 

*  Palomino,  vol.  ii.  p.  57,  59. 

s  The  present  state  of  many  of  the  pictures  of  Luini  and  other  artists 
proves  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  ground  on  which  they  were  painted  was  non- 
absorbent.  The  colours  having  in  some  parts  scaled  off,  leave  visible  the 
white  ground  unstained  with  oil,  and  of  dazzling  whiteness. 

<   '  Materials,*  &c.,  p.  S84.  *  Anecdotes,  vol.  iii.  p.  129. 


CHAP.  Ti.]  METHODS  OP  PAINTING.  CCXCV 

prehending  the  colour  of  the  cloth  on  which  he  painted 
was  too  light,  before  he  began  to  lay  on  the  flesh  colour, 
he  glazed  the  whole  place  where  the  face  and  haire  were 
drawn  in  a  colour  over  thin,  with  Cullen's  earth,  and  a 
little  bone  black  (as  he  told  us)  made  very  thin  with 
varnish.'*  The  practice  does  not,  however,  appear  to 
have  been  universal  in  Italy,  especially  when  the  priming 
was  opaque  or  nearly  so,  since  Yasari,  Borghini, 
Armenini,  and  his  copyist  Bisagno  direct  the  design 
to  be  traced  or  drawn  upon  the  priming.  Perhaps 
it  may  not  be  far  from  the  truth  to  suppose  that 
when  the  priming  was  transparent  it  was  spread  over 
the  outline ;  but  when  it  was  opaque  the  outline  was 
drawn  on  it. 

The  subject  having  been  outlined  with  ink,  or  black 
and  lake,  or  brown,  the  picture  was  begun  in  chiaro- 
scuro by  washing  in  the  shadows  lightly  with  the  same 
colour,  like  a  drawing  in  Indian  ink,  and  it  was  suffered 
to  dry.  This  practice  is  alluded  to  incidentally  by 
writers  on  painting,  and  especially  by  Paolo  Pino,^ 
where  he  objects  to  painters  designing  their  pictures  with 
such  extreme  diligence,  composing  the  whole  in  chiaro- 
scuro according  to  the  custom  of  Gian  Bellino,  for  this, 
he  observes,  was  labour  thrown  away,  as  the  whole 
had  afterwards  to  be  covered  with  colours,  &c.  Vasari 
mentions '  that  Fra  Bartolomeo  di  S.  Marco  was  partial 
to  this  method  of  painting,  and  Malvasia,'  speaking  of 
Tiarini,  relates  that  he  commenced  his  pictures  in  chiaro- 
scuro with  white  lead  and  bone  black,  and  then  covered 
them  with  colours  and  finished  with  glazings.  The 
custom  is  also  mentioned  by  Pacheco,*  who  did  not 
approve  of  it 

When  the  chiaroscuro  had  been  painted  with  black, 
or  when  the  white  ground  had  been  covered  with  a  grey 

1  Dialogo,  f.  16.  s  Vita  di  Fm  Bartolomeo  di  S.  Marco. 

>  Felaina  Pittrioe,  rol.  ii.  p.  306.  «  Tratado,  p.  386. 


CCXCvi  INTRODUCTION.  [ceat.  vi. 

preparation,  as  in  some  of  the  pictures  of  Gian  Bellino 
and  Kubens,  the  artist  proceeded  to  paint  the  flesh  tints.^ 
But  where  the  chiaroscuro  was  of  a  rich  brown,  it  was 
necessary  to  interpose  grey  tints  between  the  shades  and 
the  flesh  tints.  The  latter,  which  were  made  more  rosy 
than  nature,  were  then  laid  on  very  thinly,  beginning 
with  the  lights  and  proceeding  gradually  with  deeper 
and  redder  tints  into  the  shades,'  laying  each  tint  in  its 
place  and  not  tormenting  it  with  the  brush. 

The  next  tints,  which  were  also  very  thin,  had  more 
yellow  in  them,  and  the  last  coat  of  colours  was  also 
thin,  and  contained  more  white,  and  with  this  the  flesh 
was  toned  to  match  the  complexion.  The  number  of 
coats  of  colour  is  not  to  be  understood  as  limited  to 
three.'  Titian  is  said  to  have  repeated  his  colours 
nine  or  ten  times;  the  same  has  been  said  of  Correggio ; 
and  it  is  mentioned  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Beale/ 
that  Lely  said  he  believed  Yandyck  had  painted  over  a 
portrait  fourteen  times.  This  method  of  painting  keeps 
the  flesh  light  and  clear,  because  it  permits  the  white 
grounds  to  appear  through  it.*  Different  colours  were 
used  for  the  shadows  of  flesh :  some  artists  employed  a 
mixed  tint  of  black,  lake,  and  some  transparent  yellow, 
or  yellow  varnish.  Armenini  says  that  asphaltum, 
mummy,'  and  the  smoke  of  pece  Greca  were  commonly 
used  for  this  purpose.     Lomazzo  names  *  terra  di  cam- 


1  Even  where  the  chiaroscuro  has  been  dark  brown,  the  scumbling  of  the 
thin  flesh  tints  over  it  has  produced  the  effect  of  grey. — See  Mr.  Sheldrake's 
Paper,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Soc.  of  Arts,  vol.  zvi.  For  the  effect  of 
darkness  seen  through  a  semi-transparent  medium,  see  Goethe  on  Coloois, 
by  Mr.  Eastlake,  Noe.  151,  ISO. 

*  See  Lomazzo,  Trattato,  lib.  vi.  cap.  vi. 

'  Vasari  mentions  incidentally  that  Pietro  Perugino  had  laid  three  coats 
of  colour  on  some  pictures  in  the  Church  of  the  Servi  at  Florence.  See 
Life  of  Pietro  Perugino. 

«  See  Extracts  from  Mr.  Beale*s  Pocket-books,  quoted  by  Walpole, 
Anecdotes,  vol.  iii.  p.  125. 

^  As  to  the  lights  in  early  oil  paintings  being  semi-opaque,  see  Mr.  East- 
lake's  *  Materials,'  &c.,  p.  408.  •  Trattato,  p.  191. 


CHAP,  vij  METHODS  OF  PAINTING.  CCXCVii 

pana,  umber  (which  he  calls  also  falzalo),  burnt  terra 
verde,  asphaltum,  and  mummy.  The  Paduan  MS.* 
mentions  umber,  burnt  terra  verde,  and  asphaltum ;  and 
in  another  place/  lake^  minium,  and  umber.  Other 
artists  used  for  the  outlines  and  shadows  umber  and 
lake.'  Facheco  mentions  *  bone-black,  umber,  charcoal- 
black,  or  smoke  [of  burnt  resin],  asphaltum,  almagra, 
and  carmine.  In  this  method  of  painting  it  will  be 
observed  that  the  shadows  are  transparent,  and  that  the 
white-lead  is  reserved  for  the  lights,  which  are  semi- 
opaque. 

It  appears  to  have  been  the  general  practice  of  the 
Italian  painters,  from  Giotto  to  Lomazzo,  to  mix  their 
tmts  before  beginning  to  paint.  The  instructions  of 
Cennini*  and  Lomazzo'  are  lull  and  precise  on  this 
point  The  custom  of  mixing  tints  on  the  palette  was 
not,  however,  universal,  and  instances  of  the  opposite 
practice  may  be  found  in  works  on  art.^ 

The  method  of  painting  above  described  appears  to 
have  been  followed  by  the  Florentine,  the  Eoman,  the 
Lombard,  the  early  Bolognese,^  and  the  early  Venetian 
schools.  Titian's  earliest  pictures  were  painted  in  this 
manner,  and  the  process  may  be  seen  on  some  unfinished 
pictures  by  Rubens,  Vandyck,  Fra  Bartolomeo,  and 
others. 

The  beauty  of  this  method  of  painting  consisted  in 
its  transparency,  every  coat  of  colour  being  so  thin  as  to 
show  those  laid  beneath. 

The  most  perfect  outline  is  necessary  when  pictures 
are  painted  in  the  method  just  described,  because  if  a 
part  be  shaded  that  ought  to  be  light,  the  dark  colour 


»  P.  660.  •  P.  664. 

3  See  Malrasia,  Felttoa  Pittrice,  vol.  ii.  p.  448 ;  Lomazzo,  Trattato, 
p.  19d.  '  4  Tratado,  p;  886.  »  Caps.  67,  71—86,  93, 146. 

•  Trattato,  lib.  vi.  cap.  vi.  ^  See  Zanetti,  della  Pittura,  &c.,  p.  401. 

•See  Marcucci,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  213.  Malvaaia,  Fels.  Pitt,  vol.  ii. 
p.  206.    Merim^,  de  la  Peinturc  k  I'Uuile,  p.  16,  16. 


CCXCVlll  INTRODUCTION.  L^h^-  ^ 

will  always  be  visible  through  the  light  tints  over  it,  and 
the  colour  will  look  opaque.^ 

The  unfinished  picture  by  Lionardo  da  Vinci  in  the 
GaDery  of  Brera,  before  mentioned,  shows  that  it  was 
not  always  customary  to  complete  the  chiaroscuro 
before  beginning  the  painting.  In  this  picture,  some 
parts  are  finished,  or  nearly  so,  while  parts  of  the  ground 
are  left  white.* 


1  See  Marcncd,  Saggio,  &c.,  p.  218  and  n. ;  and  see  Mr.  Eastlake^s 
<  Materials/  &c.,  p.  897,  898. 

s  This  very  interesting  picture  has  been  mentioned  by  Mr.  Eastlake 
(*  Materials,'  p.  392),  but  as  I  have  alluded  to  it  several  times,  I  shall  give  a 
description  of  it  from  my  own  memoranda : — The  picture  represents  the 
Virgin  and  Child  with  the  Lamb.  It  is  painted  on  a  white  ground,  which 
has  a  yellowish  tint,  apparently  from  being  covered  with  varnish.  The 
ground  is  full  of  small  hair-like  cracks.  The  subject  is  drawn  with  a  black 
pencil.  The  sky  and  distance  are  finished  with  blue  and  white,  with  a 
slight  greenish  tint.  There  is  a  rock  behind  the  figures,  the  colour  of 
which,  with  the  earth  around,  is  of  a  very  dark  brown,  probably  formed  of 
black  and  majorica  and  a  little  lake.*  A  space  between  the  distance  and 
rocky  ground  is  left  quite  blank,  the  white  ground  appearing.  The  face 
of  the  Virgin  is  more  finished  than  the  rest  of  the  picture ;  it  was  ap- 
parently begun  in  chiaroscuro  with  the  usual  brown — the  gray  shades 
incline  to  black,  the  lights  on  the  face  to  lake.  The  face  of  the  Inhnt 
is  nearly  finished.  The  hands  are  just  sketched  in  lightly  with  the  same 
brown,  and  the  firs(  flesh  tints  are  laid  on  almost  as  thin  as  a  first  wash  of 
water  colours.  The  same  may  be  observed  with  respect  to  the  toes :  the 
black  p^cil-marks  are  visible  on  the  nails.  The  drapery,  which  is  scariet, 
appears  to  be  formed  of  earthy  reds,  with  vermilion  on  the  lights.  The 
outer  drapery  is  red  also,  and  is  lined  with  a  yellowish  green,  or  perhaps 
this  was  to  be  a  changeable  drapeiy,  since  the  shades  are  red  and  the 
lights  green.  These  were  Lionardo's  favourite  colours  for  drapery.  The 
sleeves  of  the  Virgin,  part  of  the  mantle,  indeed  all  that  part  ooverisg 
her  knees,  part  of  the  Infant's  drapery,  and  the  whole  of  the  Lamb  are  lefl 
quite  blank,  excepting  that  the  outline  of  her  knee  is  marked  in  pencil. 
This  shows  that  Lionardo  sometimes  finished  portions  of  his  pictures,  leaving 
the  rest  untouched,  instead  of  beginning  on  all  parts  equally,  or  even  of 
painting  the  subject  in  chiaroscuro.  The  darks  are  ndsed  higher  than 
the  lights,  and  the  foliage  is  minutely  worked  on  the  dark  background.  My 
impression  is  that  this  picture  was  begun  upon  a  non»absorbent  white 


*  See  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  Trattato  della  Pittnra,  cap.  353.  Vasari  shows  that 
the  black  used  by  Lionardo  was  the  lamp  black  used  by  the  printers,  and  iTory 
black.    See  Vita  di  Francesco  Bartolomeo  di  S.  Marco. 


CHAP.  VI.]  METHODS  OP  PAINTING.  ccxcix 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  method  of  painting  just 
described  was  discontinued  in  Venice  in  the  early  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  This  is  proved  by  the 
assertion  of  a  professor  of  painting  now  residing  at 
Venice,  that  Cima  da  Conegliano  (of  whom  nothing  is 
known  after  15170  adopted  the  Venetian  method  of 
beginning  his  pictures  with  solid  colours,  and  finishing 
with  glazings.  In  Florence  the  latter  method  had 
been  introduced  previous  to  the  completion  of  Vasari's 
work.* 

In  the  earliest  oil  pictures  the  touches  of  the  brush 
are  not  visible,  the  whole  being  softened  and  blended  so 
as  to  convey  the  idea  of  real  shadow,  except  the  sharp 
touches,  which  stand  up  crisply  and  distinctly  in  a 
manner  that  cannot  be  imitated  with  oil  alone.  This 
is  particularly  apparent  in  the  pictures  of  Van  Eyck, 
Lucas  Van  Leyden,  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  Luini,  and 
others  of  that  time. 

At  a  later  period  the  touches  of  the  brush  were  often 
suffered  to  remain  unsoftened ;  but,  in  both  cases,  it  is 
remarkable  that,  on  close  observation,  the  darks  will  be 
seen  to  stand  higher  above  the  surface  of  the  picture 
than  the  lights :  this  eflect  is  universally  attributed  to 
the  use  of  varnish  in  the  shades. 

Four  different  methods  of  painting  in  oil  have,  at 
different  times,  prevailed  in  Venice.  The  first  was 
that  just  described,  which  was  followed  by  the  Bellini ' 
and  their  pupils,  and  by  Titian  in  the  early  part  of  his 
^^eev ;  the  second  was  that  adopted  by  Titian  in  his 
^t  time,  and  by  his  pupils  and  followers ;  the  third 
^as  that  employed  by  Paolo  Veronese;  and  the  last 
that  introduced,  it  is  said,  by  Falma  Giovane,  of  paint- 

ground,  and  that  the  yellowish  tint  is  owing  to  the  varnish  with  which  it 
^  been  covered. 

'  See  Ridolfi,  vol.  i.  p.  101.  «  See  Vasari,  Life  of  Fra  Bartolomeo. 

See  ante,  p.  cxzziii. 


CCC  INTRODUCTION.  [chat,  yi. 

ing  on  dark  grounds,  to  which,  as  it  is  considered  to 
have  led  to  the  decline  of  tbe  art,  it  will  be  unnecessary 
to  advert. 

The  pictures  of  Titian  are  not  all  painted  in  the 
same  manner,  but  the  method  he  frequently  adopted 
was  nearly  as  follows : — When  the  subject  was  drawn, 
the  local  colours  were  laid  in  lightly  and  thinly  with 
colours  mixed  with  oil,^  the  shades  being  left  very  cold. 
The  picture  was  then  exposed  to  the  sun  and  the  dew 
until  perfectly  dry  and  hard ;  a  smooth  surface  was  then 
given  to  it  by  rubbing  it  down  with  pumice-stone  until 
quite  smooth. 

After  many  months  the  dead  or  first  colouring  or 
abbozzOj  as  it  is  called  in  Italian,  was  examined  and 
corrected,  and  fresh  colours  were  laid  on;*  finishing 
colours  were  then  applied,  and  the  tints  were  frequently 
repeated  seven,  eight,  or  nine  times,'  until  the  artist  was 
satisfied  with  his  work,  always  however  sufiering  a  long 
period  to  elapse  between  each  layer  of  colour,  and 
exposing  the  picture  to  the  sun  and  dew  between  each 
painting.  The  coats  of  colour  being  very  thin,  the 
colours  dried  quickly  and  hard,  and,  as  the  Venetians 
express  it,  before  the  oil  had  had  time  to  become 
rancid.^  Titian,  it  is  said,  frequently  laid  on  the  paint 
with  his  fingers,  particularly  on  the  flesh  and  in  glazing. 


1  Lanzi,  vo).  v.  p.  89, 90 ;  and  see  Boachini,  Rioche  Minere,  &c. ;  Verri, 
Soggio  sul  Disegno,  &c.,  p.  121,  127.  Compare  also  Marcucci,  Saggio, 
p.  213,  n.  *  Boschini,  Ricche  Minere. 

>  Soleva  dir  el  nostro  gran  Tician  *' 


'*  Che  per  formar  el  tIyo  oolorito, 
No*  se  possa  a  la  prima  (come  h6  dito), 
Fenir  le  came  con  intendimento ; 
Ma  ben  con  replicar  diverse  teote." 

Boschini,  La  Carta  del  Nayegar,  &c.,  p.  841. 
4  It  IS  related  that  Bombelli,  the  Venetian  painter,  said  that  he  wbhed 
his  pictures  to  dry  as  fast  as  possible,  that  the  oil  in  them  might  not  have 
time  to  rise  to  the  surface  and  turn  yellow.    See  Trans.  Soc.  Arts,  toI.  six. 
p.  329. 


CHAP.  VI.]  METHODS  OP  PAINTING.  CCci 

When  large  surfaces  were  to  be  glazed,  the  colour  was 

frequently  rubbed  on  with  all  the  fingers  or  the  flat  of 

the  hand,  so  as  to  fill  the  interstices  left  by  the  brush, 

and  to  cover  the  surface  thinly  and  evenly.     Another 

way  of  applying  the  colour  with  the  finger,  frequently 

used  for  the  soft  shadows  of  flesh,  was  to  dip  the  finger 

into  the  colour  and  draw  it  once  along  the  surface  to  be 

painted  with  an  even  movement     These  touches  were 

called  sfregazzij^    and   were   distinguished    from   the 

process   first  described,  which  was  called  "velatura,** 

Trial  will  show  that  there  is  no  other  method  by  which 

soft  shadows  can  be  so  easily  produced.     The  reason 

given  by  the  Venetians  why  the  fingers  are  preferable 

to  the  brush  for  this  purpose,  is  because  the  colour  can 

be  laid  on  thinner  in  this  way,  and  it  has  the  efiect  of 

filling  up  all  the  mterstices  caused  by  the  strokes  of  the 

brush.  The  thinness  of  the  paint  also  contributed  to  the 

durability  of  the  colours,  because  as  the  varnish  or  oil 

dried  more  quickly  from  the  thinness  of  the  layer  of 

painty  the  colours  were  preserved  from  being  changed 

by  the  action  of  the  air  upon  them.     The  shadows  were 

glazed  with  asphaltum  and  lake,  and  Titian  is  said  to 

have  frequently  glazed  the  whole  surface  of  the  picture, 

except  the  white  linen,  with  asphaltum,  or,  as  others 

say,  with  a  yellow  varnish.     The  glazings  were  generally 

laid  on  with  varnish,  although  it  is  said  that  Titian 

sometimes  used  oil  for  this  piurpose,  which  is  the  reason 

that  his  paintings  become  more  yellow  than  those  of 

otiher  painters. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  Titian  used  fire- 
quendy  an  oleo-resinous  varnish  in  glazing,  and  to  this 


1  '*  Quel  rosffi,  e  nwcadure  de  colori, 

Quei  sfregazzi  oo*  i*  dei,  quel  spegazzar 

Fk  le  figure  viTe  bulegar ; 

Quei  le  fk  luser  con  mile  splendori." 

Boflchini,  La  Carta  del  Navegar,  &c..  p.  340. 


COai  INTRODUCTION,  [chap,  ix 

is  attributed  the  shrivelled  surface  so  often  seen  on  his 
pictures.* 

Paolo  Veronese  laid  in  the  abbozzo  with  the  local 
colours  thinly  on  a  tempera  ground;  some  say  the 
colours  were  mixed  with  oil,  others  that  they  were 
applied  in  distemper.*  When  these  were  dry  and  hard 
the  surface  was  rasped  and  smoothed,  so  as  to  leave 
only  a  thin  coat  of  colour.'  On  this  he  painted  the 
solid  colours,  availing  himself  of  a  general  colour  for  all 
the  half  tints,  as  well  in  the  flesh  as  in  the  draperies  and 
architecture.*  After  this  he  covered  the  whole  with  a 
very  thin  coat  of  varnish  to  bring  out  the  colours,  and 
then  retouched  the  lights  and  shades  with  brilliant  and 
resolute  touches,  using  varnish  for  vermilion,  red-lead, 


1  Merim^e,  de  la  Peinture  k  THuile,  p.  81.    Mr.  Eastlake's  ' 
&c.,  p.  37. 

At  the  public  library  at  Brescia  I  was  shown,  among  other  curiosities, 
two  small  miniatures  by  Titian,  painted  one  on  each  side  of  a  piece  of  lapis 
lazuli,  which  seryed  for  the  ground  of  the  painting,  a  head  of  Christ  on  one 
side,  and  of  the  Madonna  on  the  other.  Two  slight  injuries  on  the  punting 
showed  that  there  was  no  ground  laid  under  the  figures,  but  the  surface 
round  the  parts  injured  looked  like  glue  or  resin  semi  transparent  at  the  edges. 
I  examined  the  painting  with  a  powerful  magnifying  glass,  and  the  surface, 
which  was  perfect,  except  in  these  two  places,  showed  the  oil  shrivelled  as 
in  many  of  Titian's  large  pictures,  the  wrinkles  in  this  picture  bearing  the 
same  proportionate  size  to  the  miniature  as  those  I  have  observed  in  his 
larger  pictures. 

I  observed  also  in  the  head  of  our  Saviour  another  remarkable  appearance 
when  examined  with  the  magnifying  glass.  This  was  the  impression  or  ap- 
pearance (for  we  could  not  tell  which)  of  threads  of  silk,  so  that  I  almost 
fancied  it  had  been  painted  on  silk,  and  cut  out  and  then  fixed  to  the  lapb 
lazuli.  The  surface  of  the  painting  had  the  usual  yellowish  brown  cast,  so 
frequently  observed  in  Titian's  paintings. 

*  See  Appendix  to  the  Italian  edition  of  the  '  Idde  du  Peintre  Parfait,* 
p.  163 ;  and  F^libien,  Principes,  &c.,  p.  297.  Merim^  (de  la  Peinture 
k  THuile,  p.  249)  says  that  Paul  Veronese,  and  before  him  other  painters, 
who  lived  at  the  period  when  artists  began  to  leave  tempera  for  oil  paint- 
ing, were  accustomed  to  begin  their  pictures  with  size  colours  on  absorbent 
grounds.  All  traditions  of  oil  paintings  having  been  begun  in  tempera  ap- 
pear to  be  now  lost  in  Venice. 

s  Compare  Armenini  as  to  the  general  practice  in  Italy,  lib.  ii.  cap.  ix. ; 
Bisagno,  Trattato,  &c. 

«  Boschini,  Rioche  Minere ;  Zanetti,  della  Pittura,  &c.,  p.  164. 


CBAP.  vij  METHODS  OP  PAINTING.  CCCIU 

blues,  the  tints  used  in  painting  white  linen,  and  for 
the  vermilion  tints  in  flesh.  He  frequently  painted  the 
blues  in  tempera,  as  in  the  picture  in  the  Soffitto  of  the 
CoUegio  of  the  Ducal  Palace/  in  which  the  blue  sky 
was  painted  in  tempera,  and  the  clouds  with  oil.  These 
tempera  colours  are  said  to  adhere  so  firmly  that  they 
will  bear  being  twice  washed  without  being  disturbed. 
The  method  of  Paolo  is  opposed  to  that  of  Titian.  The 
former  usually  painted  ^  alia  prima,"  seldom  repeating 
his  colours ;  and  with  few  glazings.*  Titian  on  the  con- 
trary frequently  painted  over  the  same  part  seven,  eight, 
or  nine  times.  His  pictures  are  neither  so  fresh  nor  so 
well  preserved  as  those  of  Paolo.' 

After  the  time  of  Titian  the  art  rapidly  declined  in 
Venice ;  large  pictures  and  rapidity  of  execution  super- 
seded the  more  sterling  qualities  of  the  art ;  and  the 
practice  of  glazing  to  an  almost  unlimited  extent  with 
asphaltum  (for  which  Tintoretto  is  greatly  blamed), 
the  introduction  of  dark  grounds,^  and  the  excessive  use 
of  oil,  caused  the  pictures  of  succeeding  painters  to 
become  dark. 

The  honour  of  having  re-discovered  and  made  known 
some  of  the  early  processes  of  painting  in  oil,  and  of 
the  principles  which  regulated  the  practice  of  the  old 
masters,  belongs  to  au  Englishman,  Mr.  Sheldrake, 
whose  Essays,*  little  known  in  his  own  country,  are 

*  This  is  proved  by  a  document  in  the  Accademia  at  Venice  addressed 
bj  Sig.  P.  Edwards  to  Sig.  Savio  Gassier,  dated  the  25th  of  Angust,  1780. 

*  Bald.,  Life  of  Paolo  Veronese ;  Boschini,  Ricche  Minere. 
>  See  p.  888. 

*  Marcucci  (p.  201)  attributes  the  darkening  of  the  later  Italian  pictures 
to  three  causes,  namely — first,  the  badness  of  the  priming,  either  from  being 
too  absorbent  or  from  the  use  of  dark  grounds ;  secondly,  the  too  free  em- 
ployment of  **  olio  ootto ;"  thirdly,  the  use  of  certain  black  pigments,  which 
deepen  in  colour  in  a  very  short  time.  See  also  Zanetti,  della  Pittura,  &c., 
pp.  874, 401,  438,  528. 

*  These  essays  were  entitled  '  A  Dissertation  on  Painting  in  Oil  in  a 
"ttoner  similar  to  that  practised  in  the  anoient  Venetian  Schools ' — *  On 
the  Nature  and  Properties  of  Drying  OiUi  *— *  On  the  Use  of  Amber  Var- 


CCCIV  INTRODUCTION.  [chaj».  ti. 

appreciated  and  quoted  by  foreigners.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  analyse  these  Essays ;  it  will  be  sufficient  to  recom- 
mend them  strongly  to  the  perusal  of  the  reader,  and 
to  state  generally,  that  Mr.  Sheldrake  considered  that 
the  method  adopted  by  the  Venetian  masters  was  as 
follows: — The  chiaroscuro  was  painted  with  umber 
on  a  tempera  preparation,  composed  of  umber,  broken 
with  red,  yellow,  or  blue,  diluted  with  chalk  or  whiten- 
ing to  the  proper  degree  of  strength.  A  coat  of  varnish 
was  then  applied,  and  on  this,  when  dry,  the  lights  were 
painted  solidly  with  pure  white,  scumbling  it  thinner 
by  degrees  until  it  united  with  the  shadows.  In  this 
manner  the  chiaroscuro  was  finished  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, and  the  local  colour  of  every  object  glazed  over 
it.     The  picture  was  then  varnished. 

The  general  resemblance  between  this  method  and 
that  first  described  as  the  Flemish  or  early  Italian 
process  is  apparent.  The  principal  variation  consisted 
in  the  absorbent  ground,  and  the  solid  painting  with 
white  on  the  lights,  which  was  rendered  necessary  by 
the  coloured  priming. 

The  method  of  Titian  was,  with  certain  modifica- 
tions, adopted  by  the  other  schools  of  Italy ;  some 
artists,  however,  still  continued  to  adhere  to  the  older 
method.  It  is  probable  that  the  method  of  Titian  was 
commonly  adopted  at  Florence  in  the  time  of  Vasari, 
for  he  mentions^  that  Fra  Bartolomeo  delighted  in 
beginning  his  pictures  in  chiaroscuro,  as  if  this  custom 
of  his  was  an  exception  to  the  general  rule.  This  sup- 
position is  strengthened   by  the  short   description  of 

nish  with  Coloure,  and  the  Method  of  Dissolving  Amber  and  Copal  * — '  Con- 
jectures tending  to  show  that  these  Vehicles  were  similar  in  Principle,  if 
not  identically  the  same  as  that  used  by  several  of  the  older  Painters  who 
were  eminent  for  their  skill  in  Colouring ' — '  An  Account  of  the  Process 
used  to  separate  the  Mucilage  from  Linseed  Oil,*  &c.  These  Essays,  writ- 
ten between  1797  and  1801,  were  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Arts,  vols,  xvi.,  zvii.,  and  xix. 
1  Vita  di  Fra  Bartolomeo  di  S.  Marco. 


CHAF.  VI.]  METHODS  OP  PAINTING.  CCCV 

the  process  of  oil-painting  by  Borghini,  who  was  a 
Florentine,  and  who  may  be  supposed  to  have  been 
well  acquainted  with  the  works  of  that  school.  This 
author  directs  ^  that  when  the  first  colours  were  laid  in 
with  as  little  oil  as  possible  (for  the  oil  in  drying  would, 
he  says,  cause  the  colours  to  darken),  the  picture 
should  be  laid  aside  for  a  long  time,  until  the  colours 
were  perfectly  dry ;  it  was  then  to  be  rigorously  ex- 
amined, and  the  necessary  corrections  made,  and  then 
was  to  be  applied  the  last  coat  of  the  finest  colours 
tempered  with  very  little  oil,  which  would  remain 
uright  and  lively ;  for  if  the  (fresh)  colours  were  laid 
upon  the  dry  dead  colouring,  the  former  would  retain 
when  dry  all  their  beauty ;  but  if  they  were  applied  on 
the  dead  colouring  before  it  was  dry,  the  first  and  last 
colours  would  mix  together,  and  the  whole  would  be 
dusky  and  darkened,  especially  when  the  colours  were 
made  liquid  with  much  oil,  which  detracts  much  from 
the  brightness  of  the  colours.  It  will  be  observed 
this  author  does  not  allude  to  the  use  of  varnish  in 
glazing. 

There  is  another  reason  why  one  layer  of  colours 
should  be  suffered  to  dry  perfectly  before  another 
was  applied ;  namely,  to  prevent  their  cracking.  Some 
of  the  early  Italian  artists,  and  particularly  Fietro 
Perugino,  appear  to  have  bought  their  experience  in  this 
respect  Several  of  the  pictures  of  Fietro  are  stated  to 
have  suffered  from  this  cause.  With  reference  to  some 
of  these  pictures,  Vasari  remarks,  "  These  three  pic- 
tures* are  much  injured,  and  the  dark  parts  and  shadows 
are  everywhere  cracked;  and  the  reason  of  this  is, 
because  when  they  were  painted,  the  first  colour  laid  on 
the  priming  (for  three  coats  of  colour  were  laid  one 

^  Bipoio,  p.  174. 

'  The  Christ  in  the  Garden,  the  Pietk,  and  the  CnicifixioD,  with  Mary 
Maiden  and  Sainta,  at  Florence. 

VOL.  I.  U 


CCCVi  INTRODUCTION.  [cbap.  ti. 

upon  the  other)  was  not  dry,  so  that  the  under  colours 
shrunk  in  drying,  and  thus  occasioned  those  cracks  on 
the  surface ;  but  Pietro  could  not  have  known  that  this 
would  happen,  because  in  his  time  artists  were  only 
beginning  to  paint  well  in  oil."^ 

The  precaution  of  waiting  long  between  the  dead 
colouring  and  the  finishing  was  observed  generally  by 
the  Italians ;  Boschini  relates  that  it  was  the  practice 
of  Titian,  and  its  universality  may  be  inferred  from 
the  common  custom  of  rubbing  down  the  surface  of  the 
picture  with  pumice-stone,  or  even  scraping  it  with  a 
knife,  as  related  by  Armenini — a  process  which  could 
not  take  place  until  the  painting  was  perfectly  dry. 
This  practice  seems  to  have  been  common  to  all  the 
later  schools,  and  some  unfinished  pictures  by  Guido 
and  Guercino  at  Bologna  present  the  appearance  of 
having  undergone  this  operation. 

But  it  was  necessary  that  the  painting  should  be 
quite  dry  and  hard  before  the  surface  was  thus  rendered 
smooth ;  and  for  this  reason,  as  well  as  to  prevent  the 
yellowing  of  the  oil,  the  painting  was  exposed  to  the 
sun  at  intervals  until  it  was  dry.  This  last  process 
was  repeated  afler  every  layer  of  colour. 

During  the  winter  the  colours  dried  more  slowly,* 
and  when  the  heat  of  the  sun  was  insufficient  to  dry 
them,  or  the  weather  particularly  damp,  they  were  ex- 
posed to  the  heat  of  a  stove,  which  Errante  says '  was 
the  custom  of  the  best  colourists.  The  practice  has  the 
sanction  of  Lionardo  da  Vinci/ 

Painters  had  another  reason  for  exposing  their  pic- 
tures to  the  sun  in  the  various  stages  of  the  painting, 


1  Life  of  Pietro  Penigino. 

s  Cachet,  Lettres  Inddites  de  P.  P.  Rubens ;  De  Piles,  El^mens,  p.  142. 

8  Saggio  sui  Colon.    Rome,  1817. 

4  Trattato,  cap.  362.  The  experiments  of  Mr.  Sheldrake  prove  that 
pHintings  executed  with  amber  varnish  were  not  injured  by  expomire  to  the 
strong  heat  of  a  stove. 


CHAP.  Ti.  I  METHODS  OF  PAINTING.  cccvii 

and  this  was  to  remove  by  evaporation  the  yellow  coat 
of  oil  which  always  rose  to  the  surface,  and  which  if  not 
removed  by  this  process  darkened  the  colours.  A  letter 
of  Bubens,^  addressed  to  Peiresc,  mentions  this  defect 
to  which  new  pictures  are  subject,  and  prescribes  the 
only  remedy.  The  letter  was  written  in  Italian,  and  is 
thus  translated  by  Mr.  Eastlake :  * — "  If  I  knew  that 
my  portrait  was  still  at  Antwerp,  I  would  cause  it  to  be 
detained  and  the  case  to  be  opened,  in  order  to  see  if  it 
is  not  spoiled  after  having  been  so  long  shut  up  without 
air;  and  whether,  as  commonly  happens  to  fresh 
colours  [under  such  circumstances],  it  has  not  turned 
yellow,  so  as  to  be  no  longer  in  appearance  what  it  was 
at  first  The  remedy,  however,  if  it  should  happen  to 
be  in  so  bad  a  state,  will  be  to  place  it  several  times  in 
the  sun,  as  the  sun  can  dissipate  the  superfluity  of  oil 
which  causes  this  alteration.  And,  if  at  any  time  it 
should  again  become  brown,  it  should  again  be 
exposed  to  the  sun's  rays,  which  are  the  only  antidote 
for  this  disease  of  the  heart" 

The  penisal  of  this  letter  and  other  evidence  which, 
as  it  has  been  given  by  Mr.  Eastlake,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  repeat,  induced  me  about  three  years  since  to  try 
and  restore  by  exposure  to  the  sun,  the  colour  of  some 
grounds  on  canvass  which  had  been  made  for  a  par- 
tictdar  purpose,  of  white-lead  and  marble-dust  mixed 
with  oil.  They  had  been  turned  towards  the  wall,  or 
otherwise  excluded  from  light  and  air  for  some  years, 
and  were  nearly  of  the  colour  of  yellow  ochre.  One  of 
these  was  placed  in  a  balcony  exposed  to  the  afternoon 
sun.  In  two  days  there  was  a  perceptible  difference, 
and  in  a  fortnight  the  yellow  hue  had  nearly  disap- 
peared.    A  long  loop  of  riband,  by  which  the  canvass 


>  Dated  London,  Aug.  9,  1629,  published  by  Gachet. 
'  For  much  additional  information  on  this  subject,  see  the  '  Materials,' 
««5.,pp.  609— 519. 

U  2 


CCCVni  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.  yi. 

(which  was  old)  had  formerly  hung  against  the  wall, 
was  accidentally  suffered  to  hang  over  the  face  of  the 
canvass ;  on  raising  the  riband  it  was  found  that  the 
ground  was  not  bleached  where  the  riband  had  lain, 
and  this  circumstance  afforded  the  means  of  judging 
correctly  of  the  effect  of  the  exposure  to  the  sun.' 

The  opinion  of  Rubens  and  other  evidence  of  a 
similar  nature  suggested  the  importance  of  ascertaining 
whether  the  custom  of  exposing  pictures  to  the  sun  still 
existed  in  Italy ;  and  from  the  inquiries  I  made,  I  am 
induced  to  believe  that  the  practice  of  exposing  pictures 
freshly  painted  in  oil  to  the  sun  has  always  existed  in 
Italy,  and  has  descended  traditionally  from  the  early  ages 
of  oil-painting  to  the  present  time  ;*  that  the  custom  is 
now  observed  by  several  eminent  professors  and  restorers 
of  pictures  at  Milan  and  Venice,  and  that  ,the  picture  is 
by  some  artists  exposed  to  the  dew  and  then  dried 
thoroughly  in  the  hot  sun  between  every  coat  of  paint; 
in  short,  that  the  great  principle  in  painting  is  to  make 
the  paint  dry  rapidly  and  perfectly  between  every  coat 
of  colour,  in  order  to  prevent  the  pigments  being  acted 
on  by  each  other  and  by  the  air.'  The  tradition  in 
Venice  is  that  the  oil  always  rises  to  the  surface  of  the 
picture  and  dries  dark  ;  and  if  the  colours  are  long  in 
drying,  the  oil  with  which  they  are  mixed  becomes 
rancid  and  has  a  deleterious  influence  on  the  colours. 
For  this  purpose  the  pigments  are  to  be  mixed  with  as 
little  oil  as  possible,  and  the  tints  laid  on  extremely 
thin,  where  it  is  intended  to  repeat  the  colours  fre- 

>  In  the  directions  given  bjr  Pacheco  for  cleaning  and  refreshing  old  oil 
paintings,  darkened  by  smoke  and  varnish,  without  danger  to  the  picture, 
he  recommends  that  if  they  are  on  cloth,  they  should  be  placed  in  the  sun 
for  half  a  day ;  but  if  on  panel,  they  should  be  exposed  to  the  dew  for  two 
nights  previous  to  being  washed.    Tratado,  p.  394. 

s  See  Cennini,  Trattato,  cap.  155 ;  and  Ridolfi,  Vita  di  MaiTeo  Verona. 

s  See  the  remark  of  Bombelli  (a  Venetian  |>ainter)  quoted  by  Mr.  Shel- 
drake, Trans.  Soc.  Arts,  vol.  xix.  p.  829.  See  also  an  extract  from  the  letter 
of  an  eminent  foreign  Professor  in  Mr.  Eastlake's  '  Material?,*  &c.,  p.  965. 


^"- 


citAF.  VI.]  METHODS  OF  PAINTING.  ccax 

quently,  especially  in  glazing,  when  the  hand  is  to  be 
used  instead  of  the  pencil,  for  the  express  reason  that 
the  colours  can  be  laid  on  by  it  more  thinly  than  with 
a  brush. 

With  regard  to  employing  colours  mixed  with  size 
on  oil  pictures,  it  was  the  opinion  of  Merim^e  ^  that 
Paolo  Veronese  sometimes  began  his  pictures  in 
tempera  and  finished  them  in  oil.  I  cannot  discover 
that  any  Italian  author  mentions  this  fact,  nor  have  I 
met  with  any  traditionary  account  of  such  a  practice. 
But  the  fact  that  some  parts  of  oil  paintings  were  at 
times  painted  with  size-colours,  is  established  beyond  a 
doubt,  as  the  practice  not  only  of  the  Venetians,  but  of 
artists  belonging  to  the  other  schools;  and  as  it  is 
alleged  *  that  some  part  of  the  celebrated  altar-piece  of 
the  Van  Eycks  at  Ghent  was  painted  in  tempera,  it 
appears  probable  that  the  practice  has  existed  from  the 
earliest  period  of  the  introduction  of  oil  painting  in 
Italy.  Besides  this  picture  of  the  Van  Eycks,  it  has 
been  ascertained'  that  the  blue  sky  of  a  picture  by  Fietro 
Perugino  (the  first  who  practised  the  Flemish  method 
of  oil  painting  in  Ferugia)  was  painted  with  smaltino 
tempered  with  starch  or  flour  paste  (coUa  di  farina). 
There  is  sufficient  evidence  to  prove  that  Faolo 
Veronese  frequently  painted  the  blue  sky  in  tempera, 
and  it  has  been  asserted  that  he  applied  the  more 
delicate  finishing  colours  in  the  same  manner,  but  this 
requires  confirmation. 

lu  the  Flemish  system  of  painting,  which  was 
adopted  by  the  early  Italian  schools,  varnish  was  added 
to  die  oil  colours,  so  that  the  full  efiect  of  the  colours 
was  always  visible ;  and  as  the  layers  of  colour  were 
thin  and  the  colours  always  finely  ground,  there  was  no 

*  De  la  Peititure  k  I'Huile,  p.  249—251 .         »  Pacheco,  TrafaHo,  p.  373. 
'  See  *  La  Yito,  Eiogio,  e  Memorie  cicll'  egregio  Pittore  Pietro  Peru- 
pno,  e  degli  Scolari  di  esso.'    Da  B.  Orsink     Penigia,  1804,  p.  208,  n. 


CCCX  INTRODUCTION.  [chap.vi. 

necessity  for  rasping  the  surface.  ^  But  where  the  local 
colours  were  laid  on  solidly,  and  not  finely  ground  as  in 
the  Venetian  school,  it  was  necessary,  when  the  abbozzo 
was  perfectly  dry  and  hard,  in  order  to  secure  an  even 
surface  .for  the  finishing  colours,  to  rub  down  the  siuface 
with  pumice-stone/ 

In  the  Venetian  manner  the  colours  of  the  abbozzo 
having  been  painted  with  oil  only,  were  dull ;  and  as  the 
difficulty  of  retouching  a  picture  "in  secco,"  that  is 
with  a  perfectly  dry  surface,  was  felt  by  all  artists,'  it 
was  considered  necessary  by  some  to  apply  a  thin  coat 
of  varnish  in  order  to  bring  out  the  colours  in  all  their 
force,  as  well  as  to  enable  the  finishing  colours  to  adhere 
more  firmly.'  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  practice  of 
Paolo  Veronese,  and  is  still  observed  by  some  Venetian 
artists.  Volpato  states  ^  that  white  of  egg  was  some- 
times used  for  this  purpose,  and  sometimes  varnish  or 
oil.  Lana  recommends^  boiled  oil  to  which  litharge 
has  been  added  in  preference  to  raw  oil,  and  De  Files  * 
prefers  oil  to  varnish.  Armenini  and  Bisagno  direct 
that  a  thin  coat  of  oil  should  be  passed  over  the  picture, 
or  at  least  over  the  parts  to  be  retouched,  and  then 
wiped  off  immediately,  leaving  only  a  slight  degree  of 
moisture  on  the  surface.^  This  process  is  technically 
called  "  oiling  out." 

To  conclude,  I  might  have  indulged  in  expressing 
the  feelings  of  delight  with  which  I  contemplated  the 
works  of  the  great  Masters  of  the  Italian  School ;  but 
I  feel  that  this  would  not  have  accorded  with  the  techni- 
cal and  practical  details  of  the  various  subjects  treated 

^  Mengs  is  said  to  have  adopted  this  practice. 

3  Goethe  on  Colours,  by  £astlake,  p.  407 ,  n. 

«  Lairesse,  le  Grand  Livre  des  Peintres,  vol.  i.  cap.  v. 

4  Pp.  747,  749.  a  P.  746,  n.  «  El^mens,  pp.  114,  118. 
"^  See  generally  Mr.  Eastlake^s  *  Materials/  &c.,  pp.  476,  904  n. ;  and  see 

Verri,  Saggio  Elementare,  &c.,  p.  116. 


CHAP,  vij  NOTE  ON  MS.  OF  FRA  FORTUNATO.  CCCXl 

of  in  these  volames.  It  has  been  my  object  to  support 
the  statements  I  have  made,  and  the  opinions  I  have 
expressed,  by  the  authorities  quoted,  or  to  which  I  have 
referred.  From  the  commencement  to  the  conclusion, 
the  pleasing  expectation  of  discovery  has  alleviated  the 
labour  of  research,  and  smoothed  the  path  of  inquiry  ; 
and  although  I  have  not  succeeded  to  the  full  extent  of 
my  wishes,  I  indulge  the  hope  that  my  labours,  which 
have  been  devoted  entirely  to  this  object  for  upwards  of 
three  years,  may  be  found  useful,  and  not  altogether 
uninteresting. 


NOTE  ON  A  MANUSCRIPT 
Fjititled  '  Raccolti  di  Secret! ,  Specifici,  Reniedj,  &c. ;  ora  adesso  di  Fra 
Fortunato  da  Rovigo,  Laico  Capucino,   Infermiere  nel  Convento  dei 
Capucini  di  Verona.' 

This  MS.,  which  is  in  two  thick  volumes  in  8vo.,  is  in  the  possession  of 
the  Canon  Ramelli,  of  Rovigo.  The  MS.  consists  of  several  treatises  on 
oMdicine,  and  of  collections  of  recipes  for  colours,  with  directions  for  minia- 
ture painting.  Many  of  the  former  arc  translations  from  the  French,  and 
were  probably  used  by  Fra  Fortunato  in  his  character  of  superintendent  of 
the  infirmary  of  the  convent.  The  recipes  date  from  1659  (soon  afler  the 
profession  of  Fra  Fortmiato)  to  1711.  A  copy  from  the  books  of  the  con- 
vent, of  the  register  of  his  profession,  is  inscribed  in  the  first  page  of  the  MS. 

The  recipes  for  painting  resemble  so  closely  those  in  other  MSS.  of  Secreti, 
that  it  appeared  unnecessary  to  copy  the  whole.  I  have  transcribed  a  few 
only,  which  show  the  colours  and  methods  in  use  during  the  time  of  Fra 
Fortunato.  From  these  we  find  that  lake  was  prepared  from  ''grana 
tinctoria**  or  **  grana  di  kermes,"  **  cimatura  di  scarlato,"  <*  cremisi"  (pro- 
bably cochineal),  **  verzino,"  and  "  gomma  lacca." — *'  Lacca  fina"  was  made 
from  '*  cimatura  di  scarlato  overo  grana  fina,  cochiniglia,  and  gomma  lacca.*' 

Among  the  blue  pigments,  azzurco  di  Germania  is  stated  to  be  composed  of 
mercury,  sulphur,  and  sal  ammoniac.  **  The  blue  colour  dkade  at  Pozzuoli  " 
is  the  old  vestorian  azure ;  it  was  made  of  sand,  **  fior  di  nitro,"  and  copper 
filings.  **  Biadetto  "  was  composed  of  verdigris,  sal  ammoniac,  and  tartar. 
These  blue  pigments  appear  to  have  been  difificult  to  use,  since  there  are  es- 
pecial directions  for  tempering  them.  Sometimes  a  varnish  composed  of  spirit 
of  turpentine  and  mastic  was  employed  for  this  purpose.  '*  Biadetto  "  was  to 
be  ground  with  a  little  burnt  roche  alum,  or  tartar,  or  sandarac ;  it  was  to  be 
ground  very  fine,  and  in  miniature  painting  was  to  be  used  with  a  clear  var- 
nish of  spirit  of  turpentine  and  mastic ;  it  would  then  spread  extremely  well, 
glaze  brilliantly,  and  be  a  most  beautiful  colour.* 

*  Biadeiiof€W€,  du  bene  n  pot$i  tleiuUre,  miniando.^SA  macina  bene  con  un 


cccxii  INTBODUCTION.  [chap,  vl 

*^  Boiled  oil  for  {Nunten,  as  dear  (colourlen  ?)  oa  water/'  was  prepared  in 

the  following  manner : — '*  Put  the  usual  piece  of  rag  containing  litharge 
and  other  customary  things  in  linseed  or  nut  oil,  add  water,  and  boil,  and 
this  will  cause  it  [the  oil]  to  be  clear  (colourless?)  as  water  itself.*'^ 

The  recipes  for  varnish  are  not  numerous.  A  recipe  for  one  which  is 
ascribed  to  P.  Bonaventura,  a  monk  of  Cento,  dated  3rd  of  April,  1707,  for 
paper,  wood,  and  other  things,  consisted  of  spirits  of  wine  6  oz.,  sandarsc 
2  oz.,  olio  d'abezzo  {  oz.  Another  vamish,  which  is  not  injured  by  hot 
water,  consists  of  linseed  oil  and  resiu ;  this  was  the  Italian  ''  vemice  co- 
mune."  Another  varnish  was  composed  of  spirit  of  turpentine,  sandarsc, 
and  (concrete)  turpentine ;  and  another  of  "  gomma  copale**  dissolved  in 
spirit  of  turpentine. 

The  directions  for  '*  painting  in  fresco  on  lime  with  colours  that  are  not 
mineral  (such  as  lake),  and  to  enable  them  to  resist  for  a  long  period  the 
effects  of  the  air,**  are  comprised  in  a  few  words,  namely,  to  apply  a  coat  of 
**  gesso  da  sarto**  upon  the  lime  spread  on  the  wall,  and  then  point  on  it 

The  short  instructions  for  miniature  painting  contain  but  little  that  is 
new.  Fra  Fortunato,  however,  recommends  that  the  gum  should  be  added 
to  the  colours,  only  when  required  for  use,  because  if  the  colours  were 
suffered  to  remain  long  mixed  with  gum,  they  would  become  dry,  and  the 
addition  of  water  to  them  would  cause  the  more  delicate  colours,  sudi  ss 
lake,  giallolino,  cinnabar,  and  azure,  to  change.  From  this  it  appears  thai 
it  was  the  common  practice  to  keep  the  ooloors  for  niiniatare  painting  ready 
mixed  with  gum. 


pooo  di  alume  di  rocoo,  braciato»  o  vero  con  un  pooo  di  tartarob  o  pure  con  san- 
dracoa.     Vedi  qui  sotto. 

II  biadetto  macinato  ben  sottile,  e  adoprato  miniando  oon  vemioe  fiitta  ood 
acqua  di  ragia  e  mastioe,  che  sis  ben  chiara,  si  stende  benissimo,  vela  polito,  e 
fit  colore  bellissimo. 

*  Per  far  t  olio  cotio  dapUtore^  che  eia  chiaro  come  acqua, — Metti  il  solito 
pinmazsolo  ool  litargirio,  et  altro  come  si  osa  dentro  1'  oglio  di  nooe  o  di  lino  a 
boUire,  e  oon  esso  mettivi  seco  dell'  aoqua  a  bollire,  che  qnesta  lo  ftra  rlmoner 
chiara,  come  1*  aoqna  medesima. 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 


PRELIMINARY  OBSERVATIONS. 

In  the  year  1431,  Jehan  le  Begue,  a  licentiate  in  the 
law  and  Notary  of  the  Masters  of  the  Mint  at  Paris, 
being  then  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age,^  com- 
posed, or  rather  compiled,  the  following  manuscript,' 
from  a  collection  of  works  on  painting  made  by  one 


1  See  end  of  manuscript  of  Le  fiegue. 

>  The  original  manuscript  of  Jehan  le  Begue  is  presenred  in  the  Biblio- 
th^ue  Royale  at  Paris.  It  is  on  paper,  and  is  numbered  6741.  For  the 
iirrt  information  oonopming  this  manuscript  we  are  indebted  to  Lessing, 
who  mentions  it  in  his  Treatise,  '  Dom  Alter  der  Oelmalerey  aus  dem 
Tbeophilus  Presbyter,'  1774.  Lessing,  however,  did  not  know  the  work, 
bat  quoted  the  title  only  from  the  Catalogue  of  Manuscripts  in  the  above- 
mendoaed  library,  because  he  believed  it  contained  a  copy  of  the  manu- 
script of  Theophilus.  It  does,  in  fact,  contain  great  part  of  the  6rst  book 
of  this  author.  Raspe^  and  Emeric  David  ^  both  mention  the  manuscript, 
bat  with  reference  to  the  copy  of  Theophilus  only ;  the  remainder  and 
greater  part  of  the  manuscript  seems  to  have  been  unknown  until  1 842  or 
1843,  when  M.  le  Comte  Charles  de  TEscalopier  procured  a  copy  of  the 
whc^e  for  the  purpose  of  completing  his  edition  of  Theophilus.  In  the 
aatumn  of  1844  I  went  to  Paris  to  procure  a  copy  of  the  manuscript,  which 
I  obtained  after  some  unavoidable  deliyr.  Some  extracts  from  the  work 
have  been  recently  published  by  Mr.  EasUake,  in  his  *  Materials  for  Painting 
in  Oil,'  and  by  Mr.  Hendrie,  in  his  edition  of  Theophilus ;  but  the  whole 
worii  has  never  yet  been  published. 


•  Critical  Easy  on  Oil  Painting,  Lond.  1781,  p.  38. 
b  Biographic  Universelle— Art  Th6>phile. 

VOL.  I.  B 


2  MANTJSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEGUE. 

Jehan  Alcherius,  or  Alcerius.  The  motive  that  in- 
duced Jehan  le  Begue  to  undertake  the  work  does 
not  appear.  Ue  himself  tells  us  that  he  was  unaccus- 
tomed to  such  writing;^  and  the  numerous  mistakes 
throughout  the  manuscript  prove  that  he  told  the  truth. 
But)  whatever  might  have  been  his  inducements,  the 
zeal  with  which  he  undertook  the  work,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  executed  his  task,  show  his  attachment 
to  the  arts,  and  his  desire  to  obtain  information  on  all 
subjects  connected  widi  it.  The  formation  and  alpha- 
betical arrangement  of  the  Table  of  Synonymes  at  the 
commencement  of  the  work,  at  a  period  when  the  art 
of  printing  was  unknown,*  and  the  sources  of  informa- 
tion from  books  must  have  been  very  limited,  was  no 
small  proof  of  his  industry  and  perseverance.  His 
authorities  seem  to  have  been  the  works  collected  by 
Alcherius,  and  the  Catholicon,  which  was  then  in  manu- 
script, and  which  was  not  printed  until  twenty-nine 
years  afler  Jehan  le  Begue  completed  his  work.' 


1  See  [No.  tOSa].    Theie  mmben  rafer  to  the  recipes  in  the  text. 

*  The  first  essay  of  Laureotias,  the  inventor  of  printing  with  sefiante 
wooden  types,  wss  abont  the  year  1430. 

•  The  *  Catholicon '  was  a  Latin  Dictionary,  eooipQeed  in  the  year  1S66, 
by  Fitt.  Giovan.  BaMi,  a  Genoese.  It  was  prmted  at  Mentz  in  1460, 
nearly  thirty  yean  aflter  it  was  qnoted  hy  Jehan  le  Begue ;  and  Betdnelli  re- 
marks  it  was  the  foiHth  book  after  the  Bible  whkh  wis  printed  with  moreaUe 
types  of  fused  metal,  but  the  author  of  the  article  *  Fdntuig'  in  the  '  fiMgr- 
clopsodia  Britannica'  says  it  was  printed  by  Guttemberg  with  types  of  cut 
metal,  and  that  Gutten^rg  used  none  but  wood  lor  cut  metal  types  unli]  the 
year  1462.  Previous  to  the  *  Catholicon/  two  other  Latin  ▼ooBbuiaries 
had  been  composed  in  Italy,  the  first  4if  which  was  entitled  '  Glesnrio 
delk  Lingua  Latina ;'  this  was  written  by  Fapta,  a  Lombard,  and,  as  It  is 
believed,  a  native  of  Milan,  who  was  one  of  the  most  learned  Greek  scholan 
of  his  age :  he  flourished  about  a.d.  1060.  This  was  followed  by  the  Dic- 
tionary of  Uguccione  Pisano,  Bishop  of  Ferrara,  in  1190.  See  Bcttinelii^s 
'  Risorgimento  d*  Italia,*  vol.  i.  |>.  1 10  n. 


FEELPilNARY  OB^BRVATIOIf S.  3 

My  reasons  for  supposing  this  Table  of  Syaonymes  to 
have  been  composed  by  Le  Begue  ar e^  thait  the  recipes 
in  old  French  at  the  end  (which  the  table  of  contents^ 
informs  us  w^re  added  by  Le  B^gue)  are  referred  to 
in  the  Table  of  Syaonymes,  and  also  because  this  Table 
is  full  of  errors,  and  contains  many  statements  which 
AlcheriuB  must  have  known  to  be  incorrect 

After  the  Table  of  jSynonymes  are  two  fragments  of 
alphabetical  indices^  the  first  of  which  begins  at  the 
letter  Q,  and  concludes  with  W ;  the  other  comprises 
l^e  letter  A  only.  These  fragm^ts,  I  consider,  are 
both  the  work  of  Le  Begue,  because  they  contain  refer- 
ences to  the  recipes  in  old  French  at  the  end  of  the 

Of  the  early  life  and  profession  of  Jehan  Alcherius, 
or  Archerius,  the  manuscript  gives  no  indications^  It 
does  not  actually  appear  that  he  was  a  painter^  but  his 
attainment  to  the  art  is  unquestionable,  or  he  would  not 
have  taken  the  pidus  he  did  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  technical  processes,  and  to  write  down  so  many 
recipes  from  the  dictajtion  of  others.  In  aU  that  related 
to  the  art  he  was  superior  to  Jehan  le  Begue ;  he  also 
possessed  the  additional  advantage  of  understanding 
Italian,  ^rhich  he  acquired  in  Italy  during  his  occasional 
visits  to  that  country.  The  object  of  these  visits  does 
not  trwspire ;  it  is,  however,  certain  that  he  frequented 
the  iK>mpat]iy  of  painters,  and  that  he  neglected  no 
means  of  obtaining  information  relative  to  the  art 

The  earliest  biographical  notice  of  Alcherius  is  dated 


1   I  jun  of  opinioa  thi$  table  of  contents  is  not  in  the  band-writing  of  Le 

b2 


4  MANUSCBIFTS  OF  JBHAN  LB  BEQUE. 

March,  1382,^  at  which  time  he  left  Milan  for  Paris, 
taking  with  him  a  recipe  for  making  writing-ink,  which 
had  been  given  to  him  by  Alberto  Porzello,  "  who  was 
most  perfect  in  all  kinds  of  writing  and  forms  of  letters, 
and  wh6,  while  he  lived,  kept  a  school  at  Milan,  and 
taught  boys  and  young  men  to  write."  In  1398 
Alcherius  was  at  Paris.  On  the  28th  of  July,  in  that 
year,  he  wrote  his  treatise  *  De  Coloribus  diversis 
modis  tractatur/ '  from  the  dictation  of  Jacob  Cona,  a 
Flemish  painter,  then  living  at  Paris.  This  treatise 
relates  chiefly  to  miniature  painting,  and  its  usual 
accompaniment  gilding.  On  the  8th  of  August  follow- 
ing he  wrote  another  short  treatise,  which  also  relates 
to  the  same  subject,  entitled  *  De  diversis  Coloribus,'  * 
from  the  dictation  of  Antonio  di  Gompendio,  '^  an  illu- 
minator of  books,  and  an  old  man,"  who  had  tried  all 
the  recipes  himself.  These  recipes  therefore  may  be 
considered  to  date  from  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  at  least.  In  October,  1398,  he  was  still  at 
Paris.^  Nothing  more  is  known  of  him  from  that  time 
until  the  month  of  March,  1409,  when  it  appears  he 
was  again  at  Milan,  where  he  copied  the  recipes  at  the 
commencement  of  the  work  as  far  as  No.  88,  from  a 
book  lent  to  him  by  Fra  Dionisio,  a  Servite,  07,  as  it  is 
expressed  in  the  manuscript,  "  of  the  order  of  the  Ser- 
vants of  St.  Mary,  which  order  in  Milan  is  called  '  Del 
Sacho.*  '*  ^  These  recipes,  from  Nos.  1  to  47  inclusive, 
are  for  colours  of  various  kinds  for  painting  and  writing, 
and  other  things  belonging  to   the   art  of  miniature 

1  See  Preface  to  No.  302.  t  See  Preface  to  No.  291. 

s  See  Preface  to  No.  297.  <  See  Preface  to  No.  303. 

»  See  Preface  to  No.  47. 


^^^«MA#H 


PRELIMINABir  OBSERVATIOXS.  5 

painting.  Nos.  47  to  88  contain  various  recipes  for 
working  in  metals ;  for  hardening  iron  ;  for  a  kind  of 
nigellum  ;  for  making  a  sort  of  pyrophorus — namely,  a 
light  which  should  bum  imder  water,  and  which  could 
be  extinguished  with  oil  only ;  and  also  a  candle  which 
should  bum  with  water  and  without  fire.  In  No.  86 
a  kind  of  gum  is  mentioned,  which  was  said  to  have 
attractive  powers  somewhat  like  the  loadstone.  It  is 
possible  that  this  gum  Andrianum,  the  name  by  which 
it  is  called  in  the  manuscript,  may  be  another  name  for 
amber  (of  which  this  attr^tive  power  is  a  known  attri- 
bute),  which  is  found  embedded  in  stones  in  various 
parts  of  Europe,  and  in  Italy  on  the  coast  of  the 
Adriatic'  From  the  description,  however,  and  from 
a  consideration  of  the  locality  where  it  was  found,  it 
seems  equally  probable  that  it  was  a  sort  of  native 
bitumen. 

The  mountain  where  the  gum  is  found  is  called  in 
tlie  text  Monte  Bono  or  Buono ;  it  should  be  Monte 
Bene.  This  mountain  is  on  the  high  road  from  Bo- 
logna to  Florence,  and  is  covered  with  scattered  rocks 
of  breccia,  and  is  remarkable  for  its  fine  scenery,  and  for 
the  singular  natural  phenomena  which  are  found  in  its 
vicinity.  The  height  is  above  4000  feet.  The  fires  of 
Pietra  Mala,  a  village  near  this  mountain,  are  known 
to  all  tourists.  These  extraordinary  fires  are  con- 
stantly issuing  from  a  spot  of  ground  three  or  four  yards 
across.  When  the  air  is  calm  they  are  seen  at  a  great 
distance,  rising  about  a  foot  from  the  ground,  and  in 


>  See  Agricola,  <  De  Mctallicis,'  f.  238.    See  also  Eastlake,  '  Mate* 
ml*;  &c.,  234  n. 


6  MANT7SCBIPTS  OF  JEHAK  L£  BE6UB. 

damp  weather  are  very  bright  and  luminous*  They  are 
extinguished  by  a  high  wind,  but  light  again  spontane- 
ously on  the  air  becoming  calm.  They  resemble  the 
flame  of  alcohol ;  and  Yolta  ascertained  that  the  gas 
emitted  is  a  composition  of  carbon  and  hyctrdgen — ^pro- 
bably  produced  by  tiie  decomposition  of  vegetable 
remains  in  the  subjacent  salid-rock.  Between  Monte 
Bene  and  Montoggioli  is  a  singular  spring,  which  is  fre- 
quently dry.  If  a  lighted  match  be  brought  near  the 
mud  of  this  spring,  the  gases  exhaled  from  it  imme- 
diately take  fire,  burning  with  a  lambent  flame.^ 

On  the  2nd  of  February,  1410,  Johannes  Alcherius 
wrote  a  description  of  the  process  of  preparing  ultra- 
marine from  the  instruction  given  him  by  one  Master 
Johannes,  a  Norman,  residing  in  the  house  of  Fietro  da 
Verona.*  This  Fietro  da  Verona  Was  probably  a 
painter;  and  the  researches  of  the  Abbatc  Mosehoni 
have  shown  that  a  painter  of  this  name  wdS  at  Fadua 
in  1398,  and  that  his  son  Antonia  da  Verona  was  also 
at  Fadua  in  1393.'  We  may  therefore  suppose  that 
the  former  was  the  contemporary  of  Johannes  Al- 
cherius. 

On  the  11th  February,  1410,  Johannes  Alcherius 
was  at  Bologna,  where  he  became  acquainted  with  one 
Theodore,  a  native  of  Flanders  and  an  embroiderer, 
who  had  been  employed  at  Favia  by  Gian  Galeazzo  Vis- 
conti,  and  who  gave  him  certain  recipes  and  directions 
for  preparing  add  using  coloured  watery  which  Theo- 


1  See  Murray's  *  Guide  to  North  Italy.' 
*  See  Preface  to  No.  118. 

3  See  Moschini  '  della  Origine  e  delle  Vioende  della  Pittara  io  Padova.' 
Pudova,  1826,  p.  9. 


PRELUONART  OBSERYATIOKS.  7 

dore  stated  he  had  procured  at  London  in  England.^ 
These  recipes,  which,  it  appears  from  the  Note  to  No. 
96,  were  given  in  writing,  were  written  in  French. 

It  is  certain  that  these  passages  relate  to  the  pre- 
paration of  transparent  colours  for  painting  ;*  but  I 
think  that  they  refer  also  to  the  art  of  dyeing,  and  to 
the  decoration  of  wearing  apparel.  No.  92  is  evidently 
a  mordant,  and  was  used  both  to  prepare  the  cloth  to 
receive  the  colours,  and  to  bleach  certain  parts  of  co- 
loured cloths,  by  which  a  regular  pattern  might  be  given 
to  them.  The  note  of  the  author  attached  to  this  recipe 
certainly  alludes  to  this  operation  of  the  art  of  dyeing, 
in  which  it  is  expressly  stated  white  letters  and  figures 
could  be  drawn  upon  a  coloured  ground ;  for  it  is  well 
known  if  figures,  &c.,  be  drawn  with  the  mordant  on 
cloth,  and  then  suffered  to  dry,  and  if,  when  dry,  the 
cloth  be  dipped  into  a  coloured  dye  and  afterwards 
dried,  it  will  appear  one  uniform  colour ;  but  if  the  cloth 
so  coloured  be  then  washed  in  plain  water,  the  colour 
will  be  discharged  from  those  parts  on  which  the  mor-* 
dant  was  not  applied,  and  the  cloth  will  be  marked  with 
a  coloured  figure  on  a  white  ground.  This  appears  to 
be  the  process  alluded  to  in  the  text,  No.  92. 

An  additional  reason  for  supposing  that  these  re- 
cipes relate  also  to  the  process  of  dyeing  arises  from  the 
fact  that  the  stuff  to  be  stained  was  sometimes  made  of 
wool  expressed  by  the  French  word  "  drap,**  and  the 


1  See  Preface  to  No.  89.  Gian  Galeazzo  died  in  1402.  He  had  the 
gloiy  of  oommencing  the  '  Duomo'  of  Milan  in  1386,  and  the  *  Cerlosa*  of 
Pavia  in  1896.     He  was  succeeded  by  Gian  Maria  Visconti. 

*  See  Eastlake,  '  Materials/  &c.,  cap.  5.  See  also  Eraclius,  lib.  iii. 
No.  26. 


S  MAXUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOUE. 

Latin  ^^  drapis  coloricis  lane ;"  and  I  am  not  aware  that 
woollen  cloth  has  ever  been  used  for  the  purpose  of 
serving  as  a  ground  for  pictures.  The  word  *^  tellis,** 
which  occurs  in  the  note  after  No.  99,  shows  that  the 
staining  or  painting  was  not  limited  to  woollen  cloths, 
but  extended  also  to  those  made  of  linen.  This  sup- 
position receives  more  weight  from  a  passage  in  the 
manuscript  of  St  Audemar  (No.  195),  where  he  says, 
"  If  you  wish  to  gild  leather,  or  purple  cloth,  or  linen, 
or  silk,  stir  it  (the  mordant)  up  altogether  and  draw 
beasts,  birds,  and  flowers  upon  it;  then  lay  on  the 
gold.''  This  passage  can  only  be  understood  as  appli- 
cable to  articles  of  dress,  unless  indeed  the  painted  or 
gilded  cloths  should  have  been  used  as  altar-cloths  or 
for  the  hangings  of  apartments. 

The  view  I  have  taken  of  this  subject  is,  I  think, 
confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the  English  in  the  fourteenth 
century  actually  wore  garments  painted  with  various 
colours,  or  in  the  words  of  the  manuscript  chronicle 
quoted  by  Mr.  Planch^,  in  his  *  History  of  British 
Costume,'  ^'AU  that  time  the  Englishmen  were  clothed 
all  in  cootes  and  hoodes  peynted  with  letters  and 
flowers,  and  seemly  with  long  beards." 

The  practice  is  further  illustrated  by  the  epigram 
which,  in  1327,  was  affixed  to  the  church-door  of  St 
Peter  Stangate : — 

'*  Long  beirds  hertiless, 
Peynied  hoods  witless, 
Gay  cotes  graceless, 
Maketh  Englonde  thriftless." 

Nor  does  it  appear  to  me  any  objection  that  the 
words  "  lavorare  *'  and  "  depingere  "  are  used,  because 
it  does  not  appear  that  at  this  period  blocks  for  calico- 


'^^^^^m^mm^mm^H^^mi^t^mmrmmmmmmmum^mtm^ammmt^mm 


PRELIMINARY  OBSERVATIONS.  .9 

printing  were  invented,  and  consequently  the  letters 
and  figures  were  necessarily  painted  on  the  cloth  by 
hand.  It  seems  to  me  very  natural  that  an  em- 
broiderer should  have  learnt  the  particulars  of  an  in- 
vention which  must  materially  have  interfered  with  his 
own  trade. 

On  the  13th  of  February,  1410,  Johannes  caused 
the  recipes  numbered  100  to  116,  inclusive,  to  be 
copied  from  a  book  lent  to  him  by  "Johannes  de 
Modena,  a  painter  living  at  Bologna."^  These  are 
the  recipes  which,  being  written  in  Italian,  Jehan  le 
Begue  could  not  read ;  he,  however,  procured  a  Latin 
translation  of  them  to  be  made  by  a  friend  of  his  "who 
was  skilled  in  both  languages.''  They  relate  chiefly  to 
eolours  and  to  mordants  for  laying  on  gold.  Among 
the  latter  is  one  which  will  not  be  affected  by  the 
weather,  and  which  consisted  of  minium,  ceruse,  verdi- 
gris, bole,  and  ochre  ground  up  with  linseed  oil  and 
'^  liquid  varnish.*'  There  is  also  a  recipe  for  preparing 
"  gesso  sottile  "  for  a  ground  for  the  gold. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Giovanni  da 
Modena,  the  painter  mentioned  in  this  manuscript, 
and  Giovanni  Rossi  da  Modena,  who  was  called  '^  II 
N^o,"  the  architect,  were  identical. 

Giovanni  da  Modena  Is  mentioned  for  the  first  time 
'as  a  painter  in  1410,  when  it  appears  from  the  manu- 
script of  Le  Begue  and  from  some  documents  pre- 
served in  Bologna,  that  he  was  tiien  resident  iiu  that 
city. 

In  1 408,  Bartolommeo  Bolognini  directed  by  his  will 


I  *  Guida  di  Bologna/  p.  112. 


10  MANTJ8CRIFT8  OF  JSHAK  LB  BSGUB. 

that  eertain  pictures  were  to  be  painted  in  tlie  ehapel 
of  S.  Giorgio  (now  8.  Abbondio^  in  the  church  of 
S.  Petronio  in  Bologna),  which  belonged  to  him^  and 
which  he  described,  as  well  as  the  subjects  of  the  po- 
tures  to  be  painted*  It  appears,  from  the  archives  of 
S.  Petronio,  that  in  1420  Giovanni  da  Modena  was 
selected  to  paint  some  pictures  illustrative  of  stories 
from  the  Old  Testament  in  this  chapel,  and  as  the  sub- 
jects of  the  paintings  now  there  correspond  with  those 
ordered  by  Bartolommeo  Bolognini,  it  is  conjectured 
that  some  of  these  paintings  are  by  Giovanni  da  Mo- 
dena.^ His  name  again  occurs  as  a  painter  in  1451 
in  some  documents  preserved  at  Bologna,  bat  his 
works  are  not  mentioned;  and  from  this  time  until 
1455  we  hear  nothing  more  of  Giovanni  da  Modena; 
but  about  that  time  Giovanni  Rossi  executed,  for  the 
Duke  Borso,  the  beautiful  miniatures  in  the  Bible  of 
the  House  of  Este,  now  preserved  in  the  Ducal  Library 
at  Modena.*  Lanzi  says  this  Giovanni  Rossi  exer- 
cised his  art  at  Mantua.  From  the  few  historical 
notices  of  Giovanni  Rossi  da  Modena,  the  architect, 
called  '  II  Negro,'  it  appears  that  he  was  the  son  of 
Martino  de  Rubeis  de  Mutina ;  that  he  was  living  at 
Bologna  in   1410,^  and  the  archives  of  S.  Petronio 


1  <  Giiida  di  Bologna,'  p.  265. 

s  Marchese,  *  Memorie  dei  Pittori  Domenicani/  vol.  i.  p.  174. 
Yol.  iv.  p.  6. 

s  Wkile  I  was  preparing  these  notes,  I  received  the  followiog  note 
(which  I  translate  literally)  from  Sig.  Michaelangelo  Gualandi  of  Bologna, 
whose  archaeological  researches  in  the  cause  of  the  fine  arts  are  well  known 
and  appreciated : — 

*'  We  have  met  with  the  name  of  one  Giovanni  da  Modena^  a  punter, 
between  the  years  1410  and  1451,  but  none  of  his  works  are  named.  As 
to  the  architect  of  S.  Petronio  in  Bologna,  by  name  Criovanni  da  Modena^ 


PREUMIKAltY  OBSBRVATIONS.  1 1 

show  that  he  sMceeded  Paolo  Tibaldi  as  the  architect 
of  that  edifice  in  1454.^  His  name  may  now  be  seen 
on  some  architectural  designs  preserved  in  S.  Petro- 
nio.    He  was  living  in  1470. 

From  these  facts  there  appears  scarcely  a  doubt  of 
the  identity  of  the  painter  and  architect ;  for  it  has  been 
shown  that  Oiovanni  Kossi,  or  Russi,  was  an  architect  in 
1454,  and  that  about  1455  a  Giovanni  Bossi,  a  painter, 
executed  some  miniatures  for  the  Duke  of  Modena. 
The  identity  is  further  confirmed  by  the  circumstance 
that  both  painter  and  architect  resided,  at  least  occa- 
sionally, in  Bologna  from  1410,  when  Alcherius  visited 
that  city,  until  1454  or  1455«  In  addition  to  these 
facts  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  old  masters  fre- 
quently exercised  both  professions,  to  which  they  some- 
times added  also  that  of  sculptor.  Giotto,  the  reformer 
of  the  Florentine  school  of  painting,  was  the  architect 
of  the  beautiful  Campanile  of  Florence.  Michael 
Angelo  painted  in  the  Sistine  Chapel,  and  was  the 
architect  of  St  Peter's.  Bramante  also  was  a  painter 
and  an  architect :  there  is  nothing  singular,  therefore. 


I  am  goiDg  to  publish  name  interesting  notices  respecting  him;  among 
others,  that  dated  from  Rome,  22nd  February,  1454,  in  which  he  ia  dc- 
Kribed  as  follows : — '  Providum  vir  Magistrum  Johannem  quondam  ilfar- 
thu  de  HubeU  de  Mutina,  Muratorem  Bonon  comniorantem  qui  comuniter 
didtur  M.  Johane  Negro.'  He  is  stjrled  *  Architecto  Magistrum  et  Inge- 
niorum.'  He  lived  until  1470,  whence  it  is  scarcely  probable  (supposing 
him  also  to  have  been  a  painter)  that  he  should  have  been  the  same  indi- 
vidoal  who  worked  in  1410,  when  he  must  at  least  have  been  twenty- five 
yeais  of  age." 

This  fact  is  certainly  sufficient  to  raise  a  doubt  as  to  the  identity  of  the 
painter  and  architect,  but  instances  of  longevity  are  so  common  among 
paiaten,  that  there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  supposing  Giovanni  da 
Modena  to  have  attained  the  age  of  eiglity  or  eighty-five  years. 

1 '  Gnida  di  Bologna/  p.  97. 


12  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUK 

in  Giovanni  da  Modena  being  at  the  same  time  a 
painter  and  an  architect 

Giovanni  de'  Rossi  had  a  son  named  Antonio,  who 
became  a  Dominican  in  the  convent  of  Sta,  Maria 
Novella,  at  Florence,  and  who  being  afflicted  with  a 
tedious  and  incurable  malady  which  rendered  him 
unfit  for  other  studies,  occupied  himself  entirely  in 
writing  and  illuminating  the  choral  books  of  the  con- 
vent. He  died  of  the  plague  in  1495.^  The  name  of 
Antonio  da  Modena  also  occurs  among  the  names  of  the 
artists  in  the  book  belonging  to  the  Society  of  Painters 
in  Padua  during  the  year  1441:'  this  was  probably 
Antonio,  the  son  of  Giovanni  de'  Rossi  above  men- 
tioned. 

From  Bologna,  it  appears,  Johannes  Alcherius  went 
to  Venice,  where,  on  the  4th  of  May,  1410,  he  procured 
a  recipe  for  preparing  ultramarine  from  "  Michelino  di 
Vesuccio,  the  most  excellent  painter  among  all  the 
painters  of  the  world."  •  The  high  opinion  entertained 
by  Alcherius  for  the  skill  of  Michelino  was  general 
among  his  contemporaries.  Pietro  Candido  Dicembrio 
asserts  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  famous  painters  of 
his  time — inter  cceteres  cetatis  suce  iUustris. 

TheConte  Gaetano  Melzi  informed  me  that  Michelino 
was  a  native  of  Besuzzo  (a  village  in  the  province  of 
Milan),  which  forms  part  of  the  estates  of  the  Borromeo 
family,  by  whom  he  was  much  employed.  The  present 
representative  of  this  noble  house  possessed,  until  very 


^  Marchese,  *  Memorie,*  &c.,  vol.  i.  p.  174. 
s  See  Moschini  <  della  Pittiira  in  Padova,*  p.  23. 
See  Preface  to  No.  117. 


PREUMINARY  OBSERVATIONS.  13 

lately,  a  picture,  now  entirely  decayed,  by  this  artist. 
Conte  Giberto  Borromeo  was  polite  enough  to  search 
for  the  picture  in  order  to  show  it  to  me,  but  it  was  so 
dilapidated  that  I  could  not  see  it.  The  following 
biographical  notice  respecting  this  painter  is  translated 
from  a  manuscript  volume  of  Memoirs  of  the  early 
Milanese  Painters,  Architects,  and  Sculptors,  kindly 
lent  me  by  Conte  Gaetano  Melzi  of  Milan,  a  nobleman 
distinguished  for  his  literary  attainments  and  possessing 
an  excellent  library : — 

"  We  may  reasonably  conclude  that  this  is  the 
Michelido  of  Milan  who  is  named  by  Vasari  among 
the  disciples  of  Taddeo  Gaddi.  He  is  mentioned  by 
Lomazzo,  who  says  he  was  a  very  old  Milanese  painter 
yfho  lived  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  his  time ;  ^ 
and  that  he  was  one  of  the  best  of  that  period,  judging 
from  his  works,  some  of  which  exist  to  this  day.  He 
added  that  he  was  '  stupendissimo  nel  far  figure  di 
animali ;'  and  he  gives  us  a  description  of  a  picture  or 
drawing  in  which  are  represented  some  peasants  in  the 
act  of  joking  and  laughing,  which  was  really  an  ex^tra- 
ordinary  work  of  the  kind-  Pietro  Candido  Dicembrio, 
who  was  a  contemporary  of  this  same  Michelino,  men- 
tions another  of  his  pictures,  which  was  the  portrait 
of  Gian  Maria  Yisconti,  Duke  of  Milan.  It  is  also 
asserted  that  Michelino  was  not  less  skilful  in  archi- 
tecture, and  that  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
academy  instituted  by  the  Duke  Gian  Galeazzo  about 
the  year  1380." 


I  Lomazio  published  his  Treatise  in  1584 ;  this  would  bring  the  date  of 
Michelino  at  least  as  far  back  as  1434. 


14  MANUSCBIPTS  OF  J^HAN  U5  BBOUE. 

Michelino,  therefore,  is  another  instanee  of  a  painter 
exercising  the  profession  of  architect  conjointly  with 
his  own. 

Lanzi  (vol.  iv.  p.  139),  after  repeating  what  Lomaoo 
had  said  in  praise  of  Michelino,  adds,  that  it  appears 
he  was  esteemed  even  by  foreigners,  for  it  is  men- 
tioned by  Morelli  {Notizie^  ^c^  p.  81)  that  the 
Yendramini  family  in  Venice  possessed  a  isn^ll  parch- 
ment book  in  quarto,  containing  animals  painted  by 
this  artist.  The  note  of  Alcherius  shows  that  Miche- 
lino  was  at  Venice  in  1410.  Lanzi  says  he  was  living 
in  1435. 

Johannes  Alcherius  returned  to  Paris  in  1410;  and 
in  December,  1411,  a  year  after  his  return  from  Italy, 
he  employed  himself  in  recopying  aasd  correctang  the 
manuscripts  he  had  collected  on  painting.^  This  ap- 
pears to  have  been  his  last  labour  in  the  service  of  the 
arts.  From  this  time  nothing  more  is  Imown  of  this 
indefatigable  collector  of  manuscripts  on  art,  whose 
labours  extended  over  a  space  of  thirty  years^  Twenty 
years  after  we  find  his  manuscripte  in  tiie  hands  of 
Jehan  le  Begue,  who  copied  them  ^with  his  own 
hand  into  .one  volume/'  and  who  probably  arranged 
them  in  their  present  form* 

I  have  entered  into  iSiese  pajrticulaiB  beoause  they 
give  authority  to  the  recipes,  and  wthenticity  to  the 
manuscripts. 

Besides  these  manuscripts  which  J  have  flaentioned, 
the  volume  of  Le  Begue  contains  also  a  oc^y  of  part  of 
the  first  book  of  Theophilus ;  a  Treatise  on  the  Com- 

1  See  Prefaces  to  Nos.  290,  297,  302. 


PRELIMINART  OBSERVATIONS.  15 

position  of  Colours,  by  Petrus  de  Sancto  Audemaro ; 
and  three  books  by  Eraclius,  entitled  ^^  De  Artibus 
Romanonim/' 

The  whole  of  the  treatise  of  Theophilus  has  recently 
been  published,  with  an  excellent  English  translation 
and  notes,  by  Mr.  Hendrie. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS. 


Table  of  the  Bjrnooymous  names  of  colours,  and  of  the  qualities 
and  accidents  of  colours^  and  things  pertiuning  to  the  art  of 
painting  ;  also  of  the  works  and  exercises  proper  and 
incident  to  them. 

Another  table  imperfect,  and  without  a  beginning. 

Experiments  on  colours. 

Divers  experiments  not  upon  colours. 

The  work  of  Theophilus,  a  most  admirable  and  learned  master 
of  the  whole  science  of  the  art  of  painting. 

The  work  of  Master  Peter,  of  St  Audemar,  on  making 
colours. 

The  first  and  metrical  book  of  Eraclius  (a  most  learned  man), 
on  the  colours  and  arts  of  the  Romans. 

The  second  book  by  the  same  author,  also  metrical. 
The  third  book,  in  prose,  on  the  aforesaid  colours  and 
arts. 

Chapters  written  by  John  Archerius,  or  Alcherius,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  1398,  on  colours  for  painting,  as  he  received  them 
from  Jacob  Cona,  a  Flemish  painter,  then  living  in  Paris. 

Chapters  on  the  colours  used  for  illuminating  books,  written 
and  noted  by  the  same  Alcherius  in  the  year  1398,  as  he 
received  them  from  Antonio  de  Compendio,  an  illuminator 
of  books  in  Paris ;  and  from  Master  Alberto  Porzello,  a 
schoolmaster  at  Milan,  who  was  most  skilful  in  all  kinds 
of  writing. 

Other  recipes  in  Latin  and  French  by  Master  John,  sumamed 
Le  Begue,  a  licentiate  in  law,  and  secretary  of  the  general 
magistrates  of  the  king's  mint  at  Paris;  who  wrote  the 
present  work,  or  the  chapters  collected  in  this  volume,  with 
his  own  hand,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1431,  and  in  the 
63rd  year  of  his  age. 

Illustra  Deus  oculum. 


CONTINENTUR  HOC  VOLUMINE. 


TABULA.de  yocabulis  synonymis  et  equivocis  colorum  rerumque 
et  accidentium  colorum  ipsisque  omni  arti  pictorie  confer- 
entium  nee  non  operum  exercitiorumque  propitiorum  ac  con- 
tingentium  eorum. 

Alia  tabula  licet  imperfecta  et  sine  initio. 

Experimenta  de  coloribus. 

Experimenta  diversa  alia  quam  de  coloribus. 

Liber  Theophili  admirabilis  et  doctissimi  magistri  de  omni 

scientia  picturae  artis. 

Liber  Magistri  Petri  de  Sancto  Audemaro  de  coloribus  faci- 
endis. 

Eraclii  sapientissimi  yiri  liber  primus  et  metricus  de  coloribus 
et  de  artibus  Romanorum. 

Ejusdem  liber  secundus,  item  metricus. 
Ejusdem  liber  tertius  sed  prosaicus  de  coloribus  et  ar- 
tibus prsedictis. 
De  coloribus  ad  pingendum  capitula  scripta  et  notata  a  Jo- 
hamie  Archerio  seu  Alcherio  anno  Domini  1398  ut  accepit 
a  Jacobo  Cona  flamingo  pictore  commorante  tunc  Parisiis. 
Capitula  de  coloribus  ad  illuminandum  libros  ab  eodem  Ar- 
cherio sive  Alcberio  scripta  et  notata  anno  1398  ut  accepit 
ab  Antonio  de  compendio  illuminatore  librorum  in  Parisiis 
et  a  magistro  Alberto   Porzello  perfectissimo  in  omnibus 
modis  scribendi,  mediolani  scholas  tenente, 
Aultres  receptes  en  Latin  et  en  Francis  per  Magistrum  Jo- 
faannem  dit  Le  Begue  Ldcentiatum  in  legibus  et  generalium 
magistrorum  monetae  regis  greffarium  Parisiis.     Qui  prse- 
aeos  opus  seu  capitula  in  hoc  volumine  aggregata  propria 
manu  scripsit  anno  Domini  1431.     ^tatis  vero  suae  63. 

lUustra  Deus  oculum. 


VOL.  I.  c 


18  MANUSCRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 


Tabula  de  vocabuus  sinonimis  et  equivocis  colorum, 
rerumque,  et  accidencium  colorum,  ipsisque  et  arti 
pictorie  conferentium,  nee  non  operum  exerciciorum- 
que  propiciorum  ae  contingeneium  eoram. 


[Habitis  per  presentem  tabulam  declaracionibus  nominuni,  coloniniy  renin- 
que,  et  accidencium  eorum  et  artis  pictorie,  et  eis  conferencium,  nee  noa 
operum  et  exerciciorum  propiciorum  ac  contingeneium  eorum,  querantiir 
ipsorum  et  ipsorum  efieetoa  et  operaciones  m  hoe  libra,  et  in  capitulis 
ejus,  per  primam  ex  tabulis  sequentibus.] 


Albus  est  color,  afiter,  secundura  Grecos,  dicitar  lencos 
et  secundum  Catholiconem  dicitur  glaucus ;  et  est  cerusa,  aliter 
album  Hispanic,  et  aliter  album  plumbum  dicitur,  et  aliter 
bracba  seu  blacha.^ 

Azurium  vel  lazurium  est  color ;  aliter  celestis  vel  celesUnus, 
aliter  blauccus,  aliter  persus,  et  aliter  ethereus  dicitur. 

Aurum  est  nobilius  metallum  croceum  *  colorem  babens  et 
tenuatur  in  petulis,  quo  carentes  utuntur  stanno  attenuato,  et 
colorito  colore  croceo,  et  in  petulis  tenuato. 

Argentum  est  nobile  roetallum  album  colorem  babens,  quo 
qtd  caret  utitur  ejus  loco  de  dicto  stanno  tenuato,  non  co- 
lorito. 

Atiripiffmentum  est  color  croceus  qui  aliter  arsicon  dicitur. 

Aureola*  est  color  qui  aliter  pictura  translucida  vocator ;  et 
omnis  pictura,  cujuslibet  coloris,  in  stanno  attenuato  fiicta,  si 

NoTB. — The  technical  nature  of  the  terms,  and  the  obscurity  of  many  of 
the  explanations,  render  a  translation  impracticable. 


1  ABnts  appears  to  signify  white  lead,  Blacha  was  probably  written 
Haeha  (biacca). 

*  OrocuB^  Croceum  is  used  for  yellow.    See  Croceum. 

s  Aureola.  This  appears  to  be  the  auripetrum  of  Pietro  di  S.  Audemar, 
No.  202,  and  the  Clavicula. 


TABLB  OF  SYKOKYMES.  Id 

ipsa  Kniatar,  per  earn  transparet,  et  polcra  fit,  precipue  si  in 
staimo  teouato  polito  sit 

Attramentum  est  color  niger  quo  scribitur,  aliter  iDcanstnm 
didtar,  et  Tide  in  incaustOy  et  de  ipso  quoqne  utitnr  pingendo 
dam  fit  de  fiiligine  ardentis  candele  vel  lampadis  vel  carbone 
mollis  ligni  vel  vitis.^ 

Auripentrum*  est  color  croceus  qui  stanno  lucido  suppositus 
et  linitus  speciem  auri  procul  intuentibus  mentitur. 

Auripiffmento  similis  est  color  qui  vocatnr  (sic)  et 

fit  de  felle  piscis  magni  marini,  credo  balene^  mixto  cum  creta 
alba  seu  gersa  et  modico  aceto. 

Arsicon  rel  arxiea '  sicut  est  auripigmentum,  est  color  cro- 
ceus, et  miscendo  succo  berbe  que  scaldabassa  dicitur  fit  yiridis 
et  succi  gratia  quarumdam  aliarum  herbarum  ad  hoc  boni  sunt. 

AnffuiUaria  herba  facit  colorem  (sic)  cum  misoetur  vitro. 

Alba  creta  est  gipsus,  aliter  gersa  dicta,  et  fit  de  lapide  quo- 
dam  in  ibmaoe  usque  ad  dealbacionem  decocto,  et  de  subtiliore 
ipsius  dealbantur  tabule  altarium.     Alii  plastrum  Tocant 

Arxiea  est  quedam  terra  crocea  ad  pingendum  apta  ac  etiam 
ad  formas  operum  cupri  fiuidendorum  fiendas  utilima. 

Alumen  glacie  *  quod  alibi,  precipue  in  Parisiis  glassa  dicitur,. 
et  si  color  non  sit,  tamen  pluribus  coloribua  ad  picturam  et 
illaminaturam  aptis  nimis  conveniens  est 

Assisiam  auri  faciendo  intrat  moniculum*  quod  est  quedam 

(sic). 

■      ■  III  <■      111  ■■■■■I      

*  Atramentum,  then,  is  charcoal  or  lamp-black,  No.  172. 

*  AuripeBtram,  culled  auripetrum  by  Petroa  dl  S.  Audemar,  No.  202 ; 
hj  Eradiua,  No.  xliv. ;  and  in  the  Clavicula.  This  appears  to  be  the  aame 
M  Anreolft. 

'  AnicoB  and  Araiea  are  here  oonsidered  synonymous,  but  they  are  not 
■o  m  htit:  the  fomer  is  declared  by  Eradius,  No.  L,  to  be  tlie  same  as 
orpimcnt,  but  the  latter  is  shown  by  the  Bolognese  manuscript  to  hare  been 
a  ydlow  lake,  made  from  the  Reseda  Luteola,  Dyers'  weed,  or,  as  it  is 
goieAilly  called.  Weld.  Arzicon  appears  to  be  a  corruption  <^  Ar$emcon^ 
wkiek  Vitruvius  (lib.  vii.  cap.  vii.)  says  was  the  Greek  name  for  Auripig- 
mentam. 

^  Alumen  glacie  appears  to  be  common  alum,  see  Nos.  42,  299,  313. 

^  Gum  ammoniac. 

c2 


20  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  XEHAN  LB  BEOXJE. 

Aurare  seu  deaurare  chrisare  dicitur,  ut  dicit  Catholicon* 
Argilla  dicitur  creta  alba,  et  aliis  modis  vocatur  utsequenter 

in  creta  dicetur. 

Albi  colores  seu  materie  et  metalla  eorum  sunt  et  nomi- 

nantur,  ut  et  in  hac  tabula  reperies  in  locis  suis,  cerusa, 

blacha,  argentum  et  stannum  tenuatum,  ^psus,  creta  alba, 

candidus  calx,  gersa,  tavertinus. 

Bracha  seu  Blacha  ^  est  color  albus,  et  fit  de  plumbo  vel  de 
ejus  corrupcione,  sicut  rubigo  fit  de  ferro ;  aliter  vocatur 
cerusa,  album  plumbum,  et  aliter  glaucus. 

Blauccus*  est  color,  aliter  lazurium  vel  azurum  aliter 
eelestis  vel  celestinus,  aliter  persus,  aliter  ethereus  dictus. 

Brunus '  est  color  quem  puto  esse  bularminium  alibi  poni- 
tur  pro  sanguine  drachonis  qui  quasi  colons  bularminici  est. 

Bures*  est  liquor  qui  in  licivio  de  cinere  fabarum  coctus 
facit  colorem  (sic)  credo  yiridem,  per  ea  que  continentur 

in  capitulo  247. 


^  It  18  probable  this  word  was  originally  written  biacha,  the  old  Italian 
way  of  spelling  biacca. 

*  Blauccus,  or,  as  it  is  written  in  No.  294,  BlauchUy  and  in  Na  314 
bhuetf  signifies  Blue. 

>  BrwwM,  Probably  Bruno  di  Spagna,  which  Haydodie,  the  translator 
of  Lomazzo's  Treatise  on  Painting  (p.  99),  identifies  with  Majolica,  and 
which  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  b  the  soft  red  hasmatite,  called  also 
Bruno  d'lnhilterra.  This  colour  is  mentioned  by  Eradius,  Nos.  283, 
286. 

^  There  is  scarcely  a  doubt  that  this  should  be  written  BoraXy  and  not 
Bures.  The  word  Borax  is  derived  in  the  first  place  from  the  Hebrew 
Borith,  and  more  immeduitely  from  the  Arabic  Baurach,  and  was  so  cor- 
rupted by  the  difierent  nations  who  practised  the  arts  in  which  tt  was  used, 
that  it  is  seldom  found  in  old  MSS.  written  twice  alike.  By  Theophilos 
it  is  called  *^  parahas,"  or  "  barabas ;"  in  the  Montpelier  MS.  described  by 
Mr.  Hendrie  (Theoph.  p.  429)  it  is  written  <'  Boraza ;"  in  the  Claricula, 
Burrago,  Borras,  Borrax,  and  Borac.  It  was  also  known  to  the  Arsbs 
under  another  name,  derived  from  Tincal,  ita  denomination  in  India,  whence 
it  was  brought  to  Europe,  namely  Tincar,  whence  the  Spanish  name  Atio- 
car.  It  is  a  native  borate  of  soda,  and  is  found  at  the  bottom  of  lakes  in 
Persia,  the  Mogul  territoiy,  in  Thibet,  China,  and  Japan. 


J 


TABLE  OF  SYNONYMES.  21 

BisetttSj  vel  Biseth  folii,^  est  color  minus  rubeus  quam 
folium,  et  de  eodem  folio  cum  superoatat  acceptus,  et  credo 
per  hoc  etiam  potest  intelligi  quilibet  claresceus  color  super* 
nataus  cuilibet  ex  coloribus  cum  in  conchillis  temperati  sunt 
ad  pingendum  et  aliquantulum  quieverunt. 

Bularminium '  est  color  rubeus  nigrescens,  ut  morellus,  vel 
ut  sanguis  drachonis. 

Blacha  seu  Bracha*  est  color  albus,  aliter  cerusa,  aliter 
album  Hispanic,  aliter  album  plumbum,  et  aliter  glaucus 
dicitur. 

Braxilium  vel  Brexilium  ^  est  lignum  rubeum  a  quo  cum 
pistus  rixus  sit  in  lixivio  forti  vel  urina  cum  albumine  com- 
miscetur  exit  color  roxeus  vel  purpureus. 

BlacOy  dicit  Catholicon,  est  purpura  cujusdem  animalis 
colorem  mutans ;  et  qui  blateus  dicitur,  purpureus,  vel  talis 
colons,  scilicet  blauius  dicitur  ipse. 

BlonduM  est  color  albo  et  rubeo  mixtus,  aliter  cerulus  vel 
ceruleus ;  et  ceruleus  color  alibi  ponitur  pro  colore  ex  albo  et 
viridi  mixto ;  et  facto  vel  ex  viridi,  albo,  et  croceo. 

BeretHnus  ^  color,  Lombardice  sic  vocatus,  est  color  medius 
inter  album  et  nigrum,  qui  Latine  elbus  vel  elbidus  dicitur,  ut 
in  Catholicone  scilicet ;  Gallice  grisus  appellatur. 
Birsus '  est  color  rufus  vel  niger,  ut  dicit  Catholicon. 
Blaui  ^  colores,  seu  materie  eorum  sunt  et  nominantur  ut  in 

*  See  Folium.  Bisetus,  or  Biseth  foHi,  a  Latin  form  of  '<  Bezette,"  which 
is  a  oomipdon  of  the  Italian  word  '*  Fezzette.*'  See  the  note  to  "  Succus." 

*  Bularmenium — ^Armenian  Bole. 

*  Blacha,  or  bracha.  Thb  should  probably  be  written  biacha  (biacca), 
Noi.  1,  18. 

*  Braxilium,  or  brexilium,  the  Terztno  of  the  Italians. 

'  This  colour,  which  is  a  true  grey,  is  the  veneda  of  Theophilus. 

^  Birsus.  This  appears  to  be  a  dark  purple  colour.  See  Cennino  Cen- 
nini,  chap,  cxiv.,  note  by  Tambroni. 

7  Bkttd  oolores,  that  is  blue  colours.  See  ante,  Blauccus.  This  term 
occurs  in  the  extracts  from  the  Archivio  delle  Riformazione  di  Firenze, 
IHiblished  by  Gaye,  Carteggio  inedito,  vol,  i.  p.  449,  and  in  Venetian 
tariffs.  Mr.  Hendrie  says  the  word  is  of  Byzantine  origin.  The  resem* 
blance  to  the  German  BUm  is  striking. 


22  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

hac  tabula  in  locis  suis  reperies,  azurium  sea  laznr'mm,  viola, 
herbe  flos,  persicus,  persus,  incUcus,  silacetus,  safirecos*  rabigo 
argenti  finissimi. 

Chriso,  Ckrisasj  id  est  deaurare  vel  aurare  ut  in  Catholicon 
dicitur. 

Citrinus  color  aliquantulum  differt  a  duobus  coloribus,  id 
est,  croceo,  et  punico  vel  puniceo,  et  citrinus  est  color  ex  croceo 
et  rubeo  mixtus  seu  &ctus.^ 

Croceus*  color  aliquantulum  differt  a  coloribus  duobus,  pu- 
niceo videlicet  et  citrino. 

Camatura^*  alia  membrana,  alia  cedra,  alia  holcus  vel  olcus, 
alia  lumina,  alia  veneda  seu  veneda,  alia  fulvus,  menescfa, 
prasis,  posech,  cerusa,  purpureus,  folium,  sinopis,  ruscus,  rosa, 
rubi,  succus,  menech,  exedra. 

Cedra  *  est  color  qui  fit  de  rubeo,  mixto  cum  pauco  nigri 
colons,  ad  nuda  ymaginum  humanarum  operanda ;  aliter 
dicitur  exedra. 

Coccicus,*  cij  color  est  rubeus,  seu  sanguineus ;  vel  etiam 
genus  est  tincture  colons  medii  inter  rubeum  et  croceum :  alii 
coccinum  illud  vocant,  ut,  in  passione  Christi,  de  colore  vestis 
ejus. 

Coccus  dicunt  Greci,  nos  vero  coccicum,  seu  cortinum  aut 
coccinum,  rubeum  colorem  qui  fit  et  est  ex  diversis  ut  sunt 
frondes  silvestres,  flores  rose  rubee,  vel  creta,  que  et  terra 
rubea,  et  alii  colores  rubei  artificiali;  aliter  dicitur  vemilculos 
vel  vermiletus,  et  aliter  sanguineus. 


1  Orange  colour. 

«  Yellow. 

s  Under  this  term  the  aathor  has  included  all  the  tints  used  in  painting 
flesh,  as  well  the  flesh  tints  as  those  for  shadows. 

4  Cedra.  The  shadow-colour  for  flesh.  See  Theophilns,  lib.  i.  chap, 
ziii.,  where  it  is  called  Ezcedra  or  Exedra. 

ft  Coccicus  or  Coccicum.  By  this  term  was  meant  the  colour  called  by 
the  Italians  <<  Grana,*'  and  which  the  Arabs  called  '<  Alkermes,*'  and  we 
Kermes. 


TABLE  OF  SYXON YBiES.  23 

CorUx  ^  secimdius  nigra  pronii,  si  decoquatur  &cit  colorem 
croceum. 

Crocea  terra,  vel  creta  crocea,  est  ad  pingendiim  apta ;  aliter 
ocra  vel  ogra  dicitur.  Alia  terra  crocea  est  que  andca*  dici- 
tur  qua  forme  operum  fusilium  cupri  fiunt. 

Cervlus  yel  ceruleua^  didt  CatboIiooD,  id  est  fulms  ad 
instar  cere  iriridis,  niger,  glaucus,  et  est  prope  blondus ;  sed 
alibi  idem  Catholicon  dicit  quod  fulvus  est  aliquantulum 
mbeus  vel  cum  uigro  rubeus  miztus,  et,  ut  idem  Catholicon, 
flaTus,  albus,  rubeus,  aut  blondus  albo  et  rubeo  &ctus. 

Celestinus  yel  cehstis  est  color  aliter  azurium,  aliter  blau- 
cuB,  aliter  persns,  aliter  ethereus  dictus. 

Cerusa  est  color  albus  qui  fit  de  plumbo;  aliter  vocatur 
bradia  seu  blacba,  et  aliter  glaucus  et  alibi  dicitur  que  cerusa 
fit  de  cupro  adusto/ 

Crcma  Grece,  Latine  color,  secundum  Catholiconem,  quod 
est  vocabulum  universale  pro  omnibus  coloribus. 

CdoT  similiter  est  yocabulum  universale  pro  omnibus  colori- 
bus, et  Grece  croma  dicitur,  et  quot  sunt  planete,  tot  sunt 
colores,  videlicet  septem,  qui  sunt,  prime  duo  extremi,  albus 
et  niger,  et  reliqui  quinque  qui  intermedii  dicuntur,  videlicet, 
oekstis  seu  Lazurius,  rubeus,  croceus  seu  aureus,  viridis,  et 
sanguineus  seu  purpureus  aut  violetus  vel  fulvus  de  quonmi 
singulis  reperies  in  hac  tabula  in  locis  suis  secundum  litteras 
alphabeti  priroas  nominum  eorum  et  materias  quibus  fiunt,  et  de 
quorum  etiam  interunpcionibus  ad  invicem  infinite  diversitates 
oolorum  ad  placitum  humani  ingenii  distii^untur. 
Crocus  vel  Crocuan  ^  est  color  exiens  de  safiiranno  madefacto, 

^  Cortex.  See  Nos.  206,  208,  209.  This  appears  to  have  been  used 
in  making  yellow  vamishea  which,  being  spread  over  tin,  caused  it  to 
appear  like  gold. 

'  Is  this  the  ^'  Terra  di  Matton  bianehi "  mentioned  by  Baldinucci  ? 
Voc.  Dis. 

'  Cenilus.    This  is  quite  unintelligible. 

*  See  Eraclius,  No.  liv. 

^  Crocus  or  Crociim.  The  zafarano  of  the  Italians.  See  Cenniui, 
cap.  49. 


24  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

vel  est  idem  safirannus ;  et  melior  est  cicilianns  qui  coriscos 
vocatur. 

Croceus  ^  est  color  idem  exiens  de  safiranno,  et  est  qui  fit 
ex  mixtura  fellis  et  erete  albe,  et  est  ocra  vel  ogra  terra 
quedam,  et  est  color  auri,  et  est  auripigmentum,  et  est  etiam 
quedam  terra  crocea  que  arxica  dicitur  apta  ad  formas  operam 
cupri  fiendas,  et  alii  dicunt  ipsam  argillam. 

Candidus  est  color  albus  differens  ab  albo. 

Calx  *  calds  est  color  albus;  videlicet  lapis  durus  in  igne 
usque  ad  ejus  dealbacionem  decoctus,  de  quo  lathomi  cemen- 
tum  ad  muros  edificandos  faciunt. 

Carminium "  est  color  rubeus,  aliter  cinobrium  vel  sinopis 
dictus ;  alibi  dicitur  quod  fit  de  albo  et  ocro  mixtis. 

Cerosius  est  color  viridis,  alibi  capitur  pro  quodam  succo  in 
159,  et  alibi  pro  {sic). 

Coriscos  est  crocus,  id  est,  safliuQUs  perfectissimus,  ut  ait 
Ysidorus,  nascens  in  Cicilia  insula. 

Ccdiffo*  est  color,  videlicet,  materia  ilia  crocea  obscura, 
quam  fumus  ignis  generat  sub  caminatis  sub  quibus  continue 
fit  ignis  decoquendo  fercula. 

Caprifolium  *  est  herba  in  Anglico  dicta  "  gaterice,"  cujus 
grana  in  vino  trita  et  bulita  si  emitatur  ferrum  eru^natum 
color  viridis  iulgentis  efficitur,  et  si  addatur  atramentum,  niger 
efficitur. 

Creta  alba^  dicitur  argilla,  est  color  albus  iactus  de  lapide 
in  fomace  cocto,  qui  aliter  plastrum  dicitur,  et  aliter  gersa,  et 
aliter  gipsus,  et  utuntur  ipsa  pelliparii ;  alia  est  rubea,  alia 
viridis  et  alia  nigra,  que  terra  nigra  sen  lapis  niger  vocatur,  et 
alia  crocea. 


1  Croceus  may  here  be  considered  a  general  name  for  yellow  pigments. 

2  Lime. 

s  See  Eraciius,  No.  Ivi. 
4  This  appears  to  be  the  colour  we  call  Bistre. 

ft  Sir  Thomas  Phillips  says,  in  his  Introduction  to  the  Clavicula,  that 
for  Gaterice  we  should  read  gate-tree,  t.  e.  goat-tree. 


TABLE  OF  STNONYMES.  25 

Creia  viridb,'  cnjus  melior  nascitur  in  creta  cirina  insula, 
et  Tocatur  Grece  theodote ;  alia  creta  reperitur  rubea,  et  alia 
alba,  et  alia  nigra,  que  appellata  est  lapis  niger. 

CrigictUa  *  est  color  (sic)  yeniens  a  Macedonia,  et 

foditur  ex  metallis  aerariis. 

Ceruleus  color  fit  ex  succo  de  lutea  berba  espresso,  alibi 
dicitur  quod  viridissimum  colorem  &cit,  ipsa  berba  seu  succus 
ejus,  precipue  si  alicui  substancioso  colori  albo  admisceatur,  ut 
Crete  aut  cerusie ;  et  alibi  ceruseus  est  color  blondus  ex  albo  et 
rubeo  factus. 

Carho*  est  color  niger  factus  de  lignis  moUibus  ustis,  ut  salix, 
populus,  vitis,  et  similia. 

(Hnobrium  ^  vel  cinopis  aliter  carminium  dicitur. 

Canchile*  vel  concile  maris  circonscise  sanguinem  purpureum 
colorem  habentem  emittunt,  quo  tinctura  purpurea  fit  pro  lanis. 

Crocei  colores  seu  materie,  et  metalla  eorum  sunt  et  nomi- 
nantur  ut  in  hac  tabula  reperies  in  locis  suis :  aurum,  auripig- 
mentum,  auripigmeuto  similis  color,  arsica,  sufiranus,  coriscos, 
caligo,  decoctio  secundi  corticis  nigri  pruni,  ocra  vel  ogra,  fel, 
grecumspect,  stannum  tenuatum  croce  colore  in  hoc  convenienti 
coloritum. 

Cdare  a  celo,  celas,  id  est  laaire,  sculpere,  pingere,  figurare, 
protrahere,  designare ;  et  inde  celatura,  celature,  etc. 

Drachoms  sanffuis '  est  color  morellus  seu  rubeus  obscurus. 
Deaurarey  id  est,  auro  aurare,  chrisare  dicitur,  ut  in  Catho- 
licon. 


1  This  creta  viridis  seems  to  be  our  terra  verte. 

*  ChrysocoUa.    This  is  the  native  green  carbonate  of  copper. 
'  Carbo,  that  is,  charcoal  black. 

*  Cinnabar  or  vermilion.  The  writers  of  these  old  MSS.  speak  of  the 
artificial  cinnabar  only. 

^  This  was  the  purpura  of  Pliny  and  the  ancients,  from  which  the  celc- 
biated  Tyrian  dye  was  prepared,  and  which  was  procured  from  a  fish  of  the 
genua  Bucdnum  found  in  the  Mediterranean. 

*  Dragon's  blood. 


26  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEOAN  LE  BEQUE. 

Designate^  protrahere,  pingere,  sculpere,  figurare,  lanire, 
celare,  quasi  idem  significant. 

Elxedra  ^  est  color  ex  mixtura  rubea  et  modioo  nigri  ad  nuda 
corporam  humanonim  fienda  aliter  dicta  cedra. 

Edera '  est  herba  arboribus  herendo,  repens,  que  in  Giallioo 
dicitur  ^'  yene  "  vel  ^^  lierre,"  cujus  rami  ex  sobula  perforati, 
vel  hinc  inde  infra  eos  incisi,  ad  medium  yidelicet  de  meose 
Mardi  emittunt  liquorem  saoguineum,  qui,  cum  urina  coctos, 
lacca  est,  qua  tinguntur  pelles  parcium. 

Ethereus  color  aliter  dicitur  lazurium  seu  azurium,  et  aliter 
persus,  aliter  blauctus,  et  aliter  celestinus  seu  celestis. 

JSZ&t»,'-ba,-bum,  vel  elbidu8,-da,-dum,  color  est  medius 
inter  album  et  nigrum,  ut  ait  Catholioon,  et  Gallice  didtur 
Grrisus,  set  Lombardioe  Berretinus  nominatur. 

Fbwus  *  color  fit  de  cerusa  combusta. 

Folium  *  est  pro  tingendo  lanas,  et  est  color  rubeus,  et  qui- 
dam  alter  est  purpureus,  et  alter  saphureus,  scilicet  est  qnidam 
alter  qui  fit  miscendo  ipsi  rubeo  dnerem  rel  lexivium  cinerum 
ligni  ulmi,  et  vocatur  folium  scampnense. 

FeV  est  liquor  croceus,  seu  color,  quo  si  cuprum  cultello 
rasum  et  dente  politum  ungatur  quociens  conyeniat,  splendi- 
ficatur  tanquam  si  deauratum  esset,  et  si  ipsum  fel  misceatur 
cum  creta  seu  gersa  alba,  et  modioo  aceto,  eflBbitur  color  auri- 
pigmento  simiUs,  Tidelioet  croceus. 

Fuscus  est  color  niger,  ex  carbone,  vel  ex  fumo  lampadis 


1  Exedra.    See  Theopbilut,  lib.  i.  cap.  ziii. ;  and  Le  Begne,  No.  345. 

>  Edera,  the  ivy. 

>  In  English,  Grey, 

<  Flavus.  This  appears  to  be  the  colour  we  now  call  matiaoot,  the 
protoxide  of  lead. 

*  Folium.    See  Vocabolary  of  Colouri,  stgura. 

«  A  similar  colour  is  in  use  at  the  present  day,  called  Gallstone.  It  Is  a 
beautiful  and  very  transparent  yellow,  but  it  is  not  peroianeDt.  It  is  used 
in  water-colours. 


TABLE  OF  SYNONYMES.  27 

aut  candele  ardentb  fiictus,  et  aliter  dicitur  fuligo,^  dicitur 
aKter  fuscus  sanctoniciis  dicitur. 

Ftiligo  est  color  aiger  vel  quasi  niger,  ad  croceuxn  tendens, 
et  reniens  a  camino  ignis,  aliter  dicta  caligo,  et  est  etiam  fiimus 
candele  et  lampadis  nigerrimus  recoUectus  ad  scutellam  vel 
aliud  vas  ferreum,  vel  cupreum,  vel  terreum. 

Fvmus*  est  color  niger,  si  cum  ab  igne  candele  sepi  vel 
cere,  vel  a  lampadis  lumine  exit,  coUigatur,  qui  aliter  fuscus, 
et  aliter  fiiligo  nominatur. 

Fuhmsj  dicit  Catholioon,  est  rubeus  aliquantulum,  vel  cum 
nigro  rubeus ;  et  vide  sequenter  in  R.  littera  super  verbo  ravusj 
qaod  ibi  aliter  dicitur. 

Fenixj  seu  phenix,  vel  feniceus  color  rubeus  est  et  feniceon 
Grece  Latine  rubeum  colori  rosarum  rubearum  similatus. 

Fenda^  aliter  galbanum  dicta,  est  genus,  et  lac  herbe,  et 
est  quidem  color  inde  de  succo  ex  palmitibus  ejus  expresso  foe- 
tus ut  dicit  Catholioon. 

Figurare^  pingere,  sculpere,  protrahere,  designare,  lanire, 
oelare,  quasi  idem  significant 

Galbanum  *  est  genus  et  lac  herbe,  que  dicitur  ferula,  et  est 
quidem  color  inde  de  succo  ex  palmitibus  ejus  factus,  et  sic 
dicit  Catfaolicon. 

Grmu  color,  Gallice  sic  dictus,  est  color  inter  album  et 
nigrum,  qui  Latine  elbus  vel  elbidus  dicitur  ut  in  Catholicon, 
set  Lombardice  vocatur  beretinus. 

Grenuspect^  faerba,  cujus  decoctio  vini  aut  cervisie  crocea 
est,  de  qua,  si  temperetur  et  teretur  viride  Grecum,  fit  pulcrum 
^de,  quod  credo  esse  viridegris. 


^  The  colour  here  described  is  Bbtrc. 

*  Famus — Lamp  black. 

*  Fenilii — See  GalbaniiiD. 

*  Galbannm,  a  liqaor  or  gum  produced  by  a  species  of  ferula  in  Africa 
•od  Turkey,  called  Ferula  Galbanifera. 

^Grenuspect.     IKr  Thomas   Phillips   thinks   this    should  be  written 
**  Greningwert." 


28  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGXJE. 

Gersa^  est  color  albus,  de  quadam  terra,  rel  lapide  non 
duro,  cocto  in  fomaoe  factus,  qui  aliter  gipeus  yel  creta  alba 
Yocatur,  et  ipsa  utuntur  pelliparii,  et  aliter  plastra  dicitur. 
Set  etiam  pelliparii  pocius  utuntur  alia  creta  alba,  que  fit  de 
quodam  meliori  lapide  absque  coctione  albissimo  pulverixato, 
Gallice  "  croye." 

Glades*  vel  ghudesy  cum  ex  metallis  primum  exciduntur, 
gutas  argenti  vivi  exprimunt,  pro  usu  artificum,  et  sine  ipsis 
es  neque  argentum  inaurari  possunt. 

Crarancia  *  herba  est  ad  faciendum  tincturas  lanarum  et 
lineorum,  et  in  Ytalico  gadus  dicitur. 

Gddus  ^  herba  est,  in  Gallico  garancia  dicta,  ad  faciendum 
tincturas  lanarum  et  lineorum. 

Glassa '  credo  quod  sit  alumen  glasse  sen  glacie. 

Gipnu  *  est  color  albus,  aliter  gersa,  et  aliter  alba  creta 
dictus,  et  est  terra  seu  lapis  in  fornace  usque  ad  dealbacionem 
decoctus,  quo  tabule  altarium  dealbantur  ut  depingantur. 

Granetus  est  color  de  albo  et  viridi  factus. 

Gladius  ^  viridis  est  color  yiridis  factus  de  auripigmento  et 
indico  mixtus. 


1  This  18  plaster  of  Paris,  the  gesso  of  the  Italians.  The  other  stone  is 
our  English  chalk. 

s  I  believe  this  passage  is  from  Pliny.    See  Eraclius,  No.  241. 

s  Garancia  is  certainly  madder,  but  its  Italian  name  is  Robbia,  and  not 
gadus. 

<  Gadus.  This  is  a  mistake :  the  French  term  is  Gaude ;  the  Italian, 
Guado;  the  English,  Woad — Isatis  Unctoria. 

ft  Glassa.  In  these  manuscripts  of  Le  Begue  the  word  Glassa  is  used  in 
two  significations :  first,  it  is  used  to  denote  Sandarac  or  Amber,  as  in  Nos, 
208  and  341 ;  and,  secondly,  it  is  used  in  conjunction  with  Alumen,  and 
appears  to  mean  crystallized  alum  simply,  or  Roche  alum,  as  in  Nos.  42  and 
299. 

0  Gipsus.    Gesso— plaster  of  Paris. 

7  Gladius  viridis.  A  regetable  g^'een,  prepared  from  the  leaves  of  the 
Gladiolus  communis ;  in  Italian,  Gladiolo ;  in  French,  Glayeul  flambe ;  in 
English,  the  Corn-flag;  in  Sicilian,  Spatulidda.  This  pigment  was  much 
used  in  Italy.  See  *  Secret!  di  Alessio,'  part  ii.  p.  37  b.  A  blue  colour 
was  made  from  the  flowers  of  the  same  plant 


TABLB  OF  8YN0NYMES.  29 

Glaucus  est  color  albus,  ut  cerusa,  que  aliter  dicitur  album 
plumbum^  aliter  blacha,  et  aliter  album  Hispanie. 

Gateriee  ^  Anglice  est  herba,  cujus  grana  in  viuo  trita  et 
bullita,  si  immittatur  ferrum  eruginatum  efficitur  color  viridis 
fblgentis  et  si  addatur  attramentum  niger  efficitur. 

Gumma  *  edere,  lacha  est  facta  ex  succo  vel  liquore  exeunte 
iu  Marcio  de  ramis  edere  herbe  arboribus  inherentis  et  re- 
peutis,  si  aculeo  ferro  perforentur. 

Hokus '  vel  olcus  est  color,  qui  aliter  membrana  dicitur,  ex 
rubeoy  et  albo,  et  pauco  viridis  creta  compositus  ad  nuda  cor- 
pora et  membra  humana  depingenda. 

Herba  morella^*^  trita  cum  gersa  seu  gipso,  id  est,  creta  alba, 
facit  colorem  viridem. 

Herba  sandix^  vocata,  est  rubea,  et  de  ipsa  fit  tinctura 
mbea  aut  sanguinea. 

Herba  vacdnium '  vocata  duplex  est ;  una  rubea,  que  tem- 
perata  cum  lacte  purpureum  colorem  facit  elegantem,  reliqua 
vero  croceum  colorem  facit. 

Herba  viola  dicta,  cujus  flos  persus  seu  blavus  est,  facit  co- 
lorem blavum  si  ipse  ejus  flos  misceatur  crete  albe  et  teratur. 

Herba  que  scalda  bassa  vocatur  in  janua  facit  succum  si  pis- 
tetur  et  exprimatur,  qui  mixtus  cum  arxicon  vel  arxica,  colore 
croceo,  fit  color  viridis. 

Iris  est  color  (^0* 

Indicus  vel  indicum  est  color  celestinus  obscurus. 


*  See  ante,  CAprifoIium. 

*  Gumma  £dera.     Gum  from  the  Ivy. 

'  See  Theophilus,  lib.  i.  cap.  i. ;  and  Pietro  di  S.  Audemar,  No.  ISO. 
^  Herba  Morella  (Solanum  Nigrum)  is  here,  as  in  the  Bol.  manuscript, 
Mid  to  make  a  green  colour. 

*  Herba  sandix — the  madder.     The  word  madder  is  derived  from  the 
Danish,  Swedish,  and  Russian  languages. 

*  Herba  vacciniuro,  the  violet     That  from  which  a  yellow  colour  is 
made  is  the  Viola  lutea,  the  Wall-flower. 


30  MANUSCBIFXS  OF  JEHAK  L£  BSGUE. 

Inoaustum  est  color  quo  acribitur,  aliter  attramentura  dictum, 
vide  in  attramento,  id  est  factum  ex  deooctioue  gaOarum  fine* 
tarum,  et  vitriolo  et  gunimi  Arabico,  aut  ex  decodiooe  mirce 
que  Tulgariter  genestra  dicitur,  et  dictis  ntnolo  et  gnmini 
Arabico  et  decoctio  etiam  eortids  boene  ligni  aut  ceresi  ligni 
posset  convemre,  nee  non  cortex  secundus  nigri  prum  arboris 
ad  hoc  per  deeoctionem  adaptaretur  cum  addicione  supra- 
scriptorum  vitrioli  et  gummi  Arabici. 

Jos  viride  dicitur,  ut  dicit  CathoHcon. 

Lumina  ^  est  color  ex  mixtura  membrane  et  ceruse  factus  ad 
illuminandum  facies  et  nuda  corpora  humana  in  pictura,  seu  ad 
gibbositates  in  ipsis  elevandos. 

Lacca  est  gumma  qnedam,  iacta  de  liquore  mbeo,  qui  exit 
de  liquore  edere,  arboribus  herente  et  repente,  si  rami  ipsius 
in  mense  Marcii  aculeo  ferreo  perforentur. 

Lazurium  rel  azurium  fit  de  lapide  lazulli ;  dicrtur  aliter 
persus,  aliter  celestis  vel  celestinus,  aliter  blauctus  seu  blauus, 
et  aliter  ethereus. 

Lucee*  herbe  succus  colons  cerulei  est,  et  aKbi  dicitur  quod 
viridissimus  est. 

Lazuli  lapis')  re^ntar  in  montibns  vel  partibus  et  est  ce- 

Lapis  lazuli }\estis  colons  seu  persi  vel  Maui  et  de  ipso  fit 
pulver  qui  purificatur  et  postea  est  azurium. 

Lapis  niger '  est^  de  quo,  si  satis  mollis  sit,  utuntur  pietores 
et  carpentarii,  protrahendo  ad  siccum;  et  de  ipso  jnngitur 
terendo  ad  liquidum  ;  aliter  terra  nigra  dicitur. 

Lignum  braxillii  ^  rubeum  seu  purpureum  colorem  reddit  si 
in  lixivio  vel  urina  aut  in  claro  ovi  cum  alumine  temperetur. 

1  Lumtna.    See  Theophiha,  lib.  i. 

s  Herba  Luzza,  either  the  Erba  lizza,  the  Tragopogoo  pratenae,  yelloir 
goafs  beand,  or  the  Erba  Latea  of  Pliny,  the  Reteda  Ltiteela,  Dyer'i  weed, 
or  weld. 

s  Black  chalk,  or  gmphite. 

4  The  Verzino  of  the  Italians. 


TABLE  OF  8YKONYHS8.  3t 

Leucos  Grecei  Latine  album,  ut  ait  CathoUcoB,  qui  color  et 
glaucuB  dicitur. 

Lanire^  celare,  sculpere,  pingere,  figurare,  protrahere>  de- 
sigDare,  quasi  idem  significant,  etc. 

Meminrma^  est  color  quo  pinguntur  facies  et  nuda  corpora 
humana  ;  aliter  olcus  dicitur,  yel  holcus,  et  alitor  camatura. 

Minium*  est  color  non  tarn  rubeus  ut  synopis,  set  magis 
palliduSy  aliter  dictus  sendracum  vel  sendaraca. 

Menesch  ;  *  aliqui  dieunt  quod  est  color  rubeus,  minus  darus 
quam  minicum,  et  magis  clarus  quam  synopb ;  alii  ipsum  vocant 
succum,  et  indici  colons  est ;  aliter  dicitur  esse  succus  sambuci, 
qui  viridis  est. 

MeUcma  *'  est  color  cum  quo  ex  lacha  seu  gumma  edere  et 
flore  farine  tritid  in  urina  positus  fit  rubeus  color  synopis 
Tocatus. 

MoreUa^  lierba  trita  cum  gersa  seu  creta  alba  est  color 
Tiridis. 

Mellinua  est  color  metalli  speciem  habens. 

Morellus  est  color  ex  rubeo  et  nigro  factus. 

Morus  Grece,  est  arbor  quam  et  Latini  etiam  sic  appellant 
cujus  fructus  morum  dicitur,  et  ejus  succus,  mixtus  cum  creta 

1  Membrana.  See Theophilus,  lib.  i.  cap.  I,  and  Pietro  di  S.  Audemar, 
No.  180. 

*  The  term  SaDdaraca  is  sometimes  applied  to  Red  orpiment,  and  some- 
times to  MiDiam. 

'  Menescb.  Mr.  Hendrie  (Theopb.  p.  81)  says  this  is  a  Romaic  word, 
rignifying  Tiolet  colour ;  but  I  would  suggest  whether  it  may  not  signify 
"  Madder,"  the  Indian  name  for  which  is  Mmisck.  Tbis  eonstmction  19 
perfectly  compatible  with  the  direcUons  of  Theophilus ;  and  in  this  case 
it  will  also  agree  with  the  definition  in  the  Table  of  Synonymes,  on  which, 
however,  I  acknowledge  but  little  dependence  can  be  placed. 

^  Mellana.  In  the  MS.  of  S.  Audemar  this  colour  is  called  Sinopis  de 
Meilana.    It  is  a  kind  of  lake. 

*  Morella.  This  is  one  of  the  Italian  names  for  the  Solanom  Nigrum, 
the  Black  nightohade.  It  is  also  called  in  Italy  Solatro  Nero,  and  Cacabo. 
In  French  it  is  called  <<  Morelle,"  ''  Morelle  des  Jardins  ;"  but  it  must  bo 
distinguished  from  the  ^*  Maurelle,'*  the  name  which  the  Croton  Tine* 
torium  bears  at  Montpellier. 


32  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEQUK 

alba  et  aliis  rebus  convenientibus,  simul  et  separatim,  colorem 
roseum  et  sangomeum  faciunt. 

Mirca  ^  est  arbor  vulgariter  dicta  genestra,  que  interponitar 
faciendo  incaustum  ad  scribendum. 

Moniculum '  est  («ic),  quod  intrat  ad  faciendum 

assisiam  auri. 

Niger  est  color  terre  nigre,  que  lapis  niger  didtur,  satis 
mollis  ad  protrahendum,  et  color  niger  est  etiam  ex  carbone 
molito,  vel  ex  fiimo  lampadis  aut  candele  factus ;  aliter  fuscus 
dicitur,  et  aliter  sanccenicus. 

NenedoL^  seu  veneda  est  color  ex  mixtura  nigri  cum  modico 
albo  plumbo,  et  si  poni  vult  in  muro,  ponatur  calx  loco  dicti 
albi  plumbi. 

Nigri  pruni  cortex  secundiis,  si  decoquatur,  facit  colorem 
croceum,  et  si  immittantur  in  ipsa  decoctione  debite  quantitates 
vitrioli  et  gummi  Arabici,  fit  attramentum  seu  incaustum  ad 
scribendum. 

Niger  color  et  rufos  color  vocantur  birsus,  ut  ait  Catholicon, 
et  vide  in  rufus  et  ravus  quod  ibi  dicitur,  ac  etiam  in  birstu. 

Nigri  cohreSy  seu  materie  eorum,  sunt  et  nominantur  ut  et 
in  hac  tabula  reperies  in  locis  suis,  attramentum,  incaustum, 
fuligOy  carbo,  lapis  niger,  fuscus,  fumus,  sanctonicus. 

^        ?  est  color  terre  crocee. 
Ogra,] 

Olchus  *  color  aliter  appellatur  membrana,  ad  facies  et  nuda 
corpora  humana  depingenda. 

Oster '  piscis  est  marinus,  cujus  sanguis  color  est  rubeus ; 
purpureus  vocatus. 

1  Mirca.    See  note  to  MSS.  of  St.  Audemar,  No.  206. 
s  Probably  Gum  ammoniac, 
s  See  Veneda. 

4  Olchus.  See  Pietro  di  S.  Audemaro,  No.  180,  and  Theophiliit,  lib.  i. 
cap.  i. 

B  The  purpura  of  the  ancients. 


TABLK  OF  SYNONYMES.  33 

Prasis '  est  creta  viridis  ut  dicit  Catholicon. 

Prasinus*  est  color  rubeus ;  alii  dicunt  quod  habet  simili- 
tudinem  viridis  coloris  et  nigri,  set  Catholicoa  dicit  quod  prasin 
Grece,  latine  dicitur  viridis. 

Po9ch  *  est  color  ex  mixtura  prasini^  et  rubei  combusti,  et 
cere,  et  modico  cenobrio,  factus,  ad  distinguendas  partes  mem- 
brorum  bumani  corporis  in  membrana  colore,  set  alibi  posch 
dicitur  fieri  ex  ogra  et  viridi  simul  mixtis. 

Purpureas,  qui  est  color  rubeus,  aliter  folium  vocatur, — 
vide  in  folium ;  et  Anglici,  in  quorum  terra  nascitur,  ipsum 
vocant  *^  unormam  ;"  fit  etiam  color  purpureus  ex  lapide  silicis 
exosto,  et  in  aceto  dum  callescit  extincto,  et  oster  est  certum 
quid,  id  est,  piscis  maris,  aut  aliud,  quo  fit  color  purpureus, 
vel  de  sanguine  ejus  ;  et  concule  maris  etiam  circumcise  pur- 
pnreum  colorem  &ciunt,  et  similiter  creta  alba  infecta  radice 
mbea,  et  sic  herba  que  vaccinium  dicitur  facit  purpureum 
colorem  si  cum  lacte  temperetur. 

Pruni  nigri  seeundua  cortex  facit  ex  decoctione  colorem 
croceum. 

Paratanium  est  color  (Sic), 

Persus  est  color  aliter  celestis,  aliter  lazurium  vcl  azurum, 
aliter  ethereus,  et  aliter  blauus  dictus. 

Pictura  translucida,*  aliter  aureola  dicta,  est  color  seu 
liquor  per  quem  omnes  alii  colores  transparent,  si  cum  in 
operibus  siccaverint  ipso  liniantur,  precipue  in  stanno  attenuato 
et  polito. 

Pattidus  est  color  non  proprie  albus,  set  declinans  aliquan- 
tolum  ad  obscuritatem. 

Plumlnu  albus  est  color  ex  plumbo  factus,  aliter  albus 
bispanie,  aliter  glaucus,  aliter  cerusa,  et  aliter  blacha  dictus. 


«  Probably  Tern  Verte. 

'  Prasmot,  the  none  as  Prasis.    See  Theophilus,  lib.  i.  cap.  ii. 

*  Poach.     See  Theophilus,   lib.  i.  cap.  iii.  and  vii. ;  and   Le  Begue, 
No.  344. 

*  See  the  Chapters  *  De  Confectio  Lucidae*  and  *  De  Lucide  ad  Luci- 
dai'  of  the  Lucca  manuscript,  and  Clavicula. 

VOL.  1.  D 


34  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGDE. 

Piastre  est  terra  vel  lapis,  qui,  decoctus  fomaci,  albissmus 
est,  aliter  gersa,  aliter  creta  alba,  et  aliter  ^psus. 

Phenix  color  nibeus  est,  vel  fenix ;  et  feniceon  Greoe,  latine 
rubeum. 

Pumicetu  color  seu  puniceus,  aliquantulum  differt  a  dnobus 
coloribus,  id  est,  a  croceo  et  dtrino,  que  plus  continet  de 
croceo,  et  minus  de  rubeo,  quam  citrinno. 

Puniceus  vel  pumiceus,  dicit  liber  de  proprietatibus  rerum, 
est  color  circumdans  rubeum  colorem,  aliter  etiam  didtur 
citrinus,  qui  est  color  ab  eo  parum  differens  que  puniceus  plus 
continet  de  croceo  et  minus  de  rubeo  quam  citrinus. 

Pingere^  lanire,  celare,  sculpere,  figurare,  protrahere,  de- 
signare,  quasi  idem  significant. 

Rubeus  est  color  qui  ex  firondibus  siWestribus  et  aliis  materi- 
alibus  diyer&is  fit,  et  diversis  in  obscuritate,  et  claritate,  et 
aliis  varietatibus,  ut  sunt  dicti  frondes,  et  etiam  flores,  ac  terra 
vel  creta  rubea,  et  alii  colores  rubei  artificiati ;  et  Greci  ipsom 
coctum  dicunt,  nos  vero  rubeum  vel  vermiletum. 

Rosa  est  color  ex  mixtura  membrane  et  modico  cenobrii  et 
modico  minii  factus  ad  rubricandas  facies  et  membra  bumano> 
rum  corporum  in  pictura,  et  fit  de  vermiculo  et  albo  plumbo, 
ac  de  brasilio  et  alumine  cum  urina. 

Rvbi  sunt  rubei  fructus  arborum  qui  apud  Grecos  moms 
dicuntur,  et  fructus  ipse  eorum  morum  dicitur,  ex  quibus 
succus,  mixtus  aliis  rebus  materialibus,  ut  crete,  seu  gipso, 
sanguinei  vel  rosei  colores  fiunt. 

Rubea  radix^\^%i  de  qua  rubeus   color  fit,  miscendo  cum 

Radix  rubea  Jcreta  alba,  id  est,  gipso. 

Rubea  terra^  seu  creta,  ex  qua  trita  pingitur. 

Rava  color  niger  est  fulvo  mixtus,  dicit  Catholicon. 

Roseus  est  color  rosarum  rubearum  colori  similatus,  et  aliter 
vide  in  cocticus,  coctus,  fulvus,  fenix  seu  phenix  vel  fenicus  aut 
feniceus,  per  p  et  A  vel  f  ei  e  scribendo,  et  vide  etiam  in  pur- 

m 

pureus  et  in  folium. 

^  Madder. 


TABLE  OF  SYNONYMES.  35 

Rufus  color  et  niger  color  vocantur  birsus  ut  ait  Catholicon. 

Ravus^  rava,  ravum,  id  est,  fiilvi  color,  ut  ait  Catholicon,  et 
vide  ante  in  fulvus  quod  ibi  aliter  dicitur  et  in  eodem  Catho- 
licone  dicitur  ravus  talis  color,  videlicet  niger  fulvo  mixtus,  et 
Tide  advertenter  in  birsus  quod  ibi  dicitur. 

RtLbei  colores  seu  materie  eomm  sunt  et  nominantur  ut  et  in 
hac  tabula  reperies  in  locis  suis  carminium,  cinobrium,  sinopis, 
coctinus,  cocticus,  coctus,  vermiculus,  herba  sandiz,  herba 
vaccioium  dicta,  folium,  succus  luchet  herbe,  mellana,  sanda- 
raca,  minium,  gandix,  terra  seu  creta  rubea,  fenix  seu  phenix, 
roseus,  et  sanguineus;  set  nota  quod  colores  nominatim  in 
fenix  seu  phenix  in  roseus  et  sanguineus  differunt  a  rubeis,  et 
est  de  ipsis  coloribus  sanguineis  aliud  c^pitulum  generale 
factum  in  littera  S.  in  fine. 

Sinopis^  est  color  magis  rubeus  quam  yermiculus;  aliter 
dicitur  cenobrium,  aliter  mellana,  et  fit  de  warancia,  et  aliter 
est  qui  fit  ex  lacha  vel  gumma  edere,  et  flore  farine  bullitis  in 
urina ;  et  aliter  sinopis  fit  ex  warancia  et  lacha  suprascripta. 

Sqffranus,  qui  reddit  colorem  croceum,  dicitur  crocus,  et 
perfectior  qui  sit  Sicilianus,  tarn  in  colore  quam  in  sapore,  qui 
vocatur  coriscos. 

Succus '  est  color  trahens  ad  indicum ;  alii  dicunt  esse  ru- 
benm  minus  clarum  quam  minium  ct  magis  clarum  quam 


*  There  was  a  natural  pigment  called  Sinopia,  which  is  described  by 
Pliny  and  by  Cennini  (cap.  38),  and  which  is  also  mentioned  in  the  Bo- 
lognese  MS.     The  sinopis  of  the  text  was  a  red  lake. 

*  Sttccus.  In  the  '  Secret!  di  Don  Alessiu  Piemontese,'  part  2,  p.  37,  is 
a  recipe  for  making  **  Fezzette  morelle  '*  from  the  berries  of  the  Ebuli,  or 
Sambuco  Salvatico  (Dwarf  Elder).  The  pezzette  were  pieces  of  rag  which 
were  dipped  into  the  coloured  juice  of  the  elder,  and  other  plants,  until  they 
absorbed  the  juice.  They  were  then  dried  in  the  shade  ;  when  dry,  they 
were  then  dipped  in  a  solution  of  alum  and  again  dried.  When  they  were 
required  for  use,  a  piece  was  put  into  a  shell,  and  a  little  gum- water  being 
poured  over  it,  it  was  stirred  about  until  the  colour  wal  discharged,  when 
the  rag  was  thrown  away  :  t|ie  colour  left,  which  was  transparent,  was  used 
for  painting. 

d2 


36  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEQUE. 

sinopis,  et  aliter  vocatur  menesch,  quod  aliter  dicitur  ipse 
menech  esse  succus  sambuci. 

Succw  sambuci  est  color  seu  liquor  viridis  obsconis,  qui 
aliter  menech  dicitur. 

Succus  herbarum  est  color  viridis  seu  liquor  cui  sepe  ad- 
miscentur  alia  ad  virides  colores  faciendos. 

Stannum  attenuatum  album  utitur  scilicet  loco  argenti,  qui 
caret  argento;  et  loco  auri,  qui  auro  caret,  depingitm*  seu 
coloratur  croce  colore,  et  ipso  utitur. 

Sandaracum  ^  seu  sandaracha  est  color  minus  rubeus  quam 
vermiculus,  et  est  aliter  minium  dictus. 

Scrupulum  (Sic). 

Sandix '  genus  est  herbe  rubee  de  qua  fit  tinctnra  ut  didt 
Catholicon. 

Sandalica  est  genus  coloris. 

Sanffuis  drachonis  *  est  color  rubeus  obscurus  seu  est  color 
morellus. 

Sillacdus*  color  fit  ex  violis  aridis  decoctis,  et,  expressa 
aqua,  tritis  super  lapide  cum  creta  alba,  id  est,  gersa. 

Sqfireus  color  est  color  quilibet  saphiri  lapidis  assimilans, 
videlicet  proprie  inter  celestem  et  rubeum,  plus  ad  celestem 
trahens  colorem  quam  ad  rubeum. 

Sanctonicus  color  aliter  fuscus  dicitur,  qui  color  niger  est 

Sanffuineus  est  color  rosarum  rubearum  colori,  ac  etiam 
colorum  sanguinis  assimilatus,  et  aliter  vide  in  roseus  et  io 
aliis  locis  ibi  nominatis. 

Scupere,  lenire,  celare,  pingere,  figurare,  protrahere,  de- 
signare,  quasi  idem  significant,  &c. 

Sanffuinei  colores  seu  materie  eorum  sunt  et  nominantur  ut 
et  in  hac  tabula  in  locis  suis  reperies,  bullarminium,  sanguis 


^  Red  orpiment  is  frequently  understood  by  this  term.  It  is  used  by 
S.  Audemar  in  the  terms  mentioned  in  the  text. 

s  Madder. 

'  Dragon's  blood. 

*  This  is  a  yellow  colour,  prepared  from  the  Viola  lutea,  the  Wall-flower, 
and  white  chalk  or  gesso.    The  name  in  the  text  is  derived  from  Piiny. 


TABLE  OF  SYNONYMES.  37 

drachonis,  braxillii  lignum,  lacca,  purpura,  blacca,  sanguis 
oonchillarum  maris,  coctus,  vermiculus,  liquor  edere  herbe, 
gomma  edere,  sandix  herba,  vaecinium  herba,  mellana,  moms, 
oster  maris,  rosa,  rubi,  rubea  radix,  roseus ;  et  nota  quod 
sanguine!  colores  a  rubeis  differunt,  ut  in  capitulo  generali  de 
rubeis  coloribus  dictum  est  in  littera  R. 

Terreus  color  fit  de  cerusa  combusta. 

Therdote  {sic)  Grece,  latine  est  creta  viridis,  cujus  melior 
nascitur  in  creta  ciriua. 

Terra  nigra  vel  lapis  niger  mollis  est,  de  quo  terendo  fit 
color  niger;  et,  non  terendo,  utuntur  carpentarii  et  pictores 
protrahendo  ad  siccum. 

Terra  sen  creta  rvhea,  ex  qua  trita  pingitur. 

Terra  vel  creta  viridis  ad  pingendum  est  cujus  melior  nasci- 
tur  in  creta  cirina,  et  in  Greco  dicitur  Theodote. 

Terra  vel  creta  crocea  est  apta  ad  pingendum  et  alitor  ocra 
vel  ogra  dicitur. 

Terra  seu  creta  alba,  aliter  gersa,  alitor  gipsus,  aliter  plastra 
dicitur,  qua  utuntur  pelliparii ;  et  est  alia  rubea,  alia  crocea, 
alia  nigra  que  de  terra  vel  lapide  aut  creta  nigra  trita  fit,  alia 
viridis  cujus  melior  nascitur  in  creta  cirina,  et  ipsa  in  Greco 
dicitur  theodoce. 

Tavertinus^  albus  color,  seu  lapis  qui  apte  rubificatur,  si  in 
ligno  braxilii,  cum  urina,  vel  lexivio,  et  alumine  misceatur. 

Viridis  vel  viride  est  color  ex  diversis  factus  sicut  creta  vel 
terra  viridis  et  alii  ex  hcrbarum  succis  et  metalli  facti  virides 
artificiati. 

Violaceus  vel  violetus  color  est,  qui  ex  rubeo  et  nigro,  aut 
ex  rubeo  et  perso  vel  lazurio,  fit  miscendo. 

*  TrmvertiDe.  A  stone  dug  in  many  parts  of  Italy,  particularly  in  Siena, 
Pisa,  Lucca,  and  near  the  river  Teverone  at  Tivoli.  It  is  a  peculiar  kind 
of  limestone,  formed  by  a  de[)osit  from  the  rivers  in  these  districts.  It  was 
much  used  in  Italy  for  building,  and  for  making  lime.  See  1st  *  Report  of 
CommisBioners  of  Fine  Arts,*  p.  39,  and  n 


38  M^lNUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOUE. 

Warancia^  est  color  seu  materia  coloris,  quia  cocta  in  aqua 
cum  lacha  seu  gumma  edere  fit  quidam  color  rubeus  sinojHS 
vocatus  et  etiam  ex  ipsa  warancia  fit  color  rubeus  ad  tingen- 
dum  pelles  parcium. 

Viridis  terra  seu  creta  quedam  est,  cujus  melior  est  que  uasci- 
tur  in  creta  cirina,  et  aliter,  videlicet  in  Greco,  theodoce  didtur. 

Violetus  est  color,  qui  ex  rubeo  et  perso,  seu  azurio,  mixtus, 
maxime  ex  rubeo  claro,  id  est,  lacba,  et  azurio  fino  fit, 

Vaocinium '  est  herba  rubea  que  temperata  cum  lacte  facit 
colorem  purpureum  elegantem,  et  est  quedam  alia  herba  simi- 
liter vaccinium  vocata  que  croceum  colorem  facit 

Vergavt  *  est  color  qui  est  quasi  ut  azurium  respectu  colons, 
non  respectu  materie. 

Viola  est  flos  cujusdem  herbe  persus  seu  blauus,  quo  cum 
creta  alba  fit  color  blauus,  et  aliter  cilacetus  color  dictus  est 

Vermiculus  *  color  rubeus  est,  qui  fit  ex  frondibus  silvestri- 
bus,  ut  dicit  Catholicon,  et  Grece  ipsum  dicunt  coctum  ;  nos 
vero  rubeum  vel  vermiletum. 

Veneda  ^  seu  neveda  est  color  factus  ex  mixtura  nigri  cum 
modico  albi  plumbi,  et  si  poni  vult  in  muro,  ponatur  calx  loco 
dicti  albi  plumbi. 

Vercanda '  nominatur  in  capitulo  libri  colorum  342. 

Verblea  ^  nominatur  in  capitulo  345  libri  colorum. 

^  Yuarantia.  The  name  by  which  madder  was  generally  known  during 
the  middle  ages,  especially  in  the  western  parts  of  Europe.  It  was  called 
''Garance"  in  French,  and  **Granza"  in  Spanish,  whence  the  term 
warantia  is  apparently  derived. 

'  Vaccinium y  the  purple  violet.  The  latter  is  the  Viola  lutea,  or  Wall- 
fluwer. 

*  Vergaut.    See  Eraclius,  No.  282.     Perhaps  Vertbleu. 

*  By  Vermiculus  is  here  meant  the  kennes,  or  coccus,  the  ''  grant"  of 
the  Italians. 

^  Veneda,  a  true  grey.    See  Theophilus,  lib.  i.  cap.  vi. 

'  In  the  number  referred  to  this  word  appears  to  be  written  **  Vemide*' 
and  **  Vercande,"  a  proof  that  this  part  of  the  table  of  synonymes  was 
written  after  Le  Begue  had  added  his  recipes. 

'  Verblea.  Probably  Vert-bleu,  the  Verde  Azsurro  of  the  Italians,  a 
native  carbonate  of  copper,  of  a  greenish-blue  colour,  the  Armenian  stone  of 
Pliny. 


J 


TABULA  IMPERFECTA.  39 

Usticiunij  usticii,  genus  est  colons,  ut  dicit  Catholicon. 

Virides  colores  seu  materie,  et  metalla  eorum,  sunt  et  nomi- 
nantor  ut  et  in  hac  tabula  in  locis  suis  reperies,  arxica  mixta 
sueco  yiridi  herbarum,  cerosius,  caprifolium,  gaterice,  ceruleus, 
snccos  luree  berbe,  gladius,  herba  morella,  scalda  bassa  herba, 
prasras  vel  prassinus,  succus  herbarum  diversarum,  theodote 
terra  vel  creta  viridis,  jas,  succus  rute  herbe  mixtus  cum  viride 
eris. 


AuA  Tabula,  licet  imperfecta  et  sine  inicio. 
Quociens  ponendi  sunt  colores  in  operibus>  147. 

Rosam  primam,  scilicet  colorem  sic  nominatum  facere,  124. 

Rosam  secundam,  id  est^  colorem  sic  dictum  ad  differentiam 
prime  facere,  128. 

Rosam  colorem  facere  de  ligno  brixillii  et  creta  alba^  289, 
299,  304. 

Rose  colorem  cum  brexillio  et  creta  alba,  293. 

Rosam  facere  cum  ligno  brexillii  absque  creta  alba  set  cum 
aliis,  14,  15,  16,  17,  334. 

Roseum  seu  sanguineum  colorem  facere,  234,  14,  15,  16, 
17, 184,  218,  289,  299,  304,  293. 

Roseas  litteras  scribere,  16. 

Roseam  aquam  facere  de  brexillo,  20. 

Rubeam  quam  facere  ad  pingendum  in  telis,  91,  93. 

Rubeum  succum  edere  herbe  arboribus  repentis  lacham  dic- 
tum facere  vel  habere,  184,  218. 

Rubeum  minium  ex  cerusa  facere,  et  cerusam  etiam  facere, 
288. 

Rubificare  ossa  ligna  et  alia  matcrialia,  51,  335. 

Safranum  seu  crocum  finum  eligere  seu  cognoscere  et  dis- 
temperare^  165,  331. 


40  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAK  LE  BEGUE. 

Sanguineus  color  qui  lacha  dicitur  quomodo  de  ligno  brex- 
iUii  fit,  309. 

Sanguineum  ?el  roseum  colorein  qui  lacha  didtur  facere, 
184,  218,  332,  11, 12,  13,  16,  37,  100,  181,  309,  332. 

Sanguineum  vel  roseum  colorem  fiicere,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18, 
218,  289,  299,  293,  334,  309. 

Sanguine  vel  roseo  colore  tingere  materialia,  42,  326. 

Scribendo  apti  colores  diversi  quomodo  de  campestribus 
floribus  fiunt,  212. 

Scribere  litteras  aureas  non  cum  auro  set  cum  colore,  25. 

Scripturam  argenteam  absque  argento  fi&cere,  321. 

Scripturam  auream  et  argenteam  absque -auro  et  argento 
facere,  324. 

Scribere  IHteras  argenteas  de  petula  argenti,  24,  320. 

Scribere  litteras  auro  molito,  217,  219,  320,  323,  328,  336, 
339,  310. 

Scripturas  et  picturas  de  auro  molito  facere,  310. 

Scripturas  auro,  argento,  et  lotono  moUitis  facere,  312. 

Scripturam  stanneam  de  stanno  molito  facere,  185. 

Scribere  litteras  roseas,  16. 

Scribere  yirides  litteras,  28,  199,  221. 

Sculpa  opera  lignea  que  corio,  panno,  nee  pergameno,  co- 
operiuntur,  ut  rotunde  ymagines,  selle  equestres,  scabella,  et 
alia  talia  opera  pingere,  140. 

Sellas  equestres,  scabellas,  ymagines  rotundas  et  alia  opera 
lignea  sculpa  que  pergameno  nee  drapo  cooperiri  poasunt  prop* 
ter  sculpturas  in  ipsis  factas  pingere,  140. 

Senum  decrepitorum  et  juvenum  capillis  et  barbis  colorem 
aptum  facere,  132. 

Sigilli  formam  facere,  49. 

Sinopis  quis  color  sit,  179. 

Sinopidem  de  mellana  colorem  facere,  182. 

Sinopidem  ex  lacha  et  Waranda  facere,  183, 

Spongia  vitcUum  ovi  parare,  270. 

Stanneam  scripturam  de  stanno  molito  facere,  185. 

Stannum  atenuatum,  id  est,  petulas  stanni. facere,  143,  205. 


•  ■    I 


TABULA  IMPERFECTA.  41 

StaDnum  atenuatum  cum  petula  auri  fini  aurare,  105,  142. 

Stanneas  petulas  in  opere  ponere  et  eas  coloribus  oleo  tern- 
peratia  pingere,  145. 

Staonum  tenuatum  sea  petulas  stanni  colore  verzini  seu 
brixilli  pingere,  101. 

Stanni  petulas  vel  folia  seu  laminas  colorare  taliter  quod 
aurate  videantur,  144,  202, 205,  206,  207,  208,  209. 

Stampnence  folium  colorem  purpureum  in  Anglia  Wormam 
dictum  distemperare  seu  facere,  162,  164,  166. 

Succum  rubeum  edre  herbe  arboribus  repentis  lacham  dic- 
tum habere,  184,  218. 

Tabulas  seu  laminas  stagni  tenuatas  que  petule  Yocantur 
fiicere,  143,  205. 

Tabulas  seu  laminas  stanni  tenuatas  que  petule  vocantur 
colorare  taliter  quod  aurate  videantur,  144,  202,  205,  206, 
207,  208,  209. 

Tabulas  seu  laminas  stanni  tenuatas  que  petule  Yocantur 
ponere  in  opere  et  eas  coloribus  oleo  temperatis  pingere,  145. 

Tabulas  et  asseres  ligneas  et  ligna  aptare  ad  pingendum, 
268,  269. 

Tabulas  altarium  et  alias  pingere,  131. 

Tabulas  et  ostia  et  alia  lignea  opera  cum  coloribus  oleo  tem- 
peratis pingere,  138. 

Tellam  lineam  aut  canapinam  preparare  ut  possit  in  ipsa 
pingi  et  aurum  poni,  280. 

Tellas  rubea  aqua  pingere,  91,  93. 

Tellas  violacea  aqua  pingere,  95. 

Tellas  aqua  indica  vel  persea  pingere,  97. 

Tellas  viridi  aqua  pingere,  90,  94,  98,  99,  110,  199. 

Tellas  aqua  nigra  pingere,  89. 

Ungere  qnelibet  materialia  in  quolibet  colore,  326,  41,  40, 
46, 199,  42. 

Temperamenta  colorum  in  libris  ponendorum  facere  et  de 
quibus  liquoribus,  197,  306,  325,  346,  347. 


42  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEQUE. 

Temperare  colores  qui  cum  goma  seu  aqua  gomata  tempe- 
rari  non  possunt,  quo  modo  fit,  146. 

Terreas  fialas  preciosa  piciura  bituminis  yitri  facta  ornare, 
213. 

Tingere  in  sanguineo  colore  materialia,  42,  326. 

Tingere  pelles  in  viride,  46,  199,  326. 

Tingere  in  viridi  ligna  ossa  tellam  et  alia  materialia  in  quo* 
cumque  colore,  41. 

Tollere  litteras  de  carta  et  papiro,  2,  17,  21,  34. 

Transluddam  picturam  facere,  148. 

Temperamentum  colorum  tam  infectivorum  seu  transluci- 
dorum  quam  corpulentorum  vel  simplicium  seu  materialium 
facere  ad  eos  ponendum  in  opere  seu  stampno  et  plumbo  vel 
super  metallis  aliis  stampnatis  vel  plumbeatis  aut  simplicibus 
per  se  videlicet  non  stampnatis  nee  plombeatis  nee  aliquo  alio 
ex  metallis  co-opertis,  368.^ 

Vasa  figuli  id  est  terrea  plumbeare  seu  vitreare  vitro  plumbi, 
259. 

Vasorum  fictilium  pingendorum  picturam  vitri  nigri  facere, 
230. 

Vasorum  fictilium,  id  est,  terreorum  pingendorum  picturam 
albi  vitri  facere,  229,  233. 

Vasorum  fictilium  depingendorum  picturam  viridis  vitri  fa* 
cere,  228,  232. 

Vasorum  fictilium  pingendo  picturam  vitri  nimis  virenlis 
facere,  231,  234. 

Vasa  fracta  terrea  et  lapides  integrare,  8. 

Venedam  alibi  venedam  colorem  £acere,  126,  330. 

Vemicem  liquidam,  id  est  glutinam  pro  pictoribus  facere, 
341,  138,  139,  210. 

,    Viride  eris  facere,  8,  43,  44,  152,  155,  156,  157,  159,  201, 
273,  287,  300,  331. 

*  iBte  liber  non  est  completus  usque  ad  ilium  numenim. — [Marginal  note 
by  author.] 


TABULA  IMPERFECTA.  43 

Viride  eris  pulcherrimam  facere,  45,  161. 

Viride  eris  colorem  cum  sale  facere,  150. 

Viride  eris  distemperare  et  facere,  152,  331. 

Viride  eris  subtiliare  et  liquidum  facere,  160. 

Viridi  eris  mixturas  aliorum  colorum  in  fine  capituli  sen 
post  capitulum,  159. 

Viridem  colorem  facere  cum  corpore  et  non  corrosivum  sed 
dulcem^  quamvis  in  ipso  sit  de  viride  eris  quod  de  se  corrosivum 
est,  301,  331. 

Virides  litteras  scribere  cum  colore  cum  viride  eris  facere, 
28, 331. 

Viridem  aquam  ex  viride  eris  et  aliis  facere  ad  pingendum 
in  tellis.  90,  94,  98,  99,  331. 

Viridi  eris  tingere  pelles,  46,  331. 

Viridia  cum  viride  eris  et  aliorum  facere  ligna  ossa  telam 
filum  et  alia  materialia,  40,  81. 

Viridem  alium  quam  eris  facere,  158,  199,  221,  227,  331, 
395,  398. 

Virides  litteras  scribere  cum  colore  non  de  ere,  199,  221, 
227,  331,  295, 158. 

Viridem  aquam  vel  colorem  non  eris  ad  scribendum  facere, 
199,  221,  227,  331,  395, 158. 

Viridem  aquam  aliter  quam  de  viride  eris  facere  ad  pingen- 
dum in  telis,  110,  199,  22.1,  227,  331,  295, 158. 

Viridem  colorem  aliter  quam  de  ere  facere  ad  detingendum 
pelles,  199,  110,  221. 

Viridem  colorem  non  de  ere  facere  pro  operando  in  diversis, 
295,  331,  227,  199,110,  221, 158. 

Viridem  colorem  absque  ere  ad  que  volueris  depingenda  fa- 
cere, 227,  295,  331,  227, 199, 110, 158,  221. 

Viride  terreum  distemperare,  265. 

Viride  vitrum  ad  vasa  fictilia  depingenda  facere,  228,  232. 

Virentem  nimis  vitrum  ad  vasa  fictilia  depingenda  facere, 
231,  234. 

Vitri  invendo,  255. 


44  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

Vitram  flexibilem  facere  invenit  quidam  qui  ideo  jussu  impe- 
ratoris,  decapitatus  fiiit,  256.^ 

y  itriare  yitro  plombi,  id  est,  plcxmbeare  vasa  figuli  id  est  ter- 
rea,  259. 

Vitri  bitumine  preciosa  tinctura  facta  terreas  fialas  Titriare 
et  ornare,  213. 

Vitrum  album  ad  vasa  fictilia  pingenda  faoere,  229,  233. 

Vitram  album  et  de  diversis  coloribus  facere,  257. 

Vitrum  viride  ad  vasa  fictilia,  id  est,  figuli  pingenda  fecere, 
228,  232. 

Vitrum  nimis  yirentem  ad  vasa  figuli  seu  fictilia  depingeoda 
facere,  231,  234. 

Vitrum  nigrum  ad  vasa  fictilia  depingenda  facere,  230. 

Vitrum  pingere,  272. 

Vitrum  coloribus  colorare  et  ipsimi  de  plumbo  facere,  271. 

Vitreas  et  terreas  fialas  auro  decorare,  215. 

Vermiculum  facere  quod  est  color  rubeus,  174, 175. 

Vermiculi  mixto  cum  minio,  177. 

Vernicium  seu  vemicem  liquidam  vel  glutinam  facere  est 
post  numerum  138 ;  item  est  in  numero  139,  210. 

Vemidare  aurum  ne  perdat  colorem,  267. 

Vemiciare  opera  depicta,  147. 

Verzinum  facere  colorem,  id  est  brixillii  pro  tenendo  ad  po- 
nendum  in  opere  quando  necesse  est,  202. 

Verzini  colorem  facere  proponendo  super  argento  aut  super 
stanno  tenuato,  101. 

Violetam  aquam  facere  ad  pingendum  in  telis,  95. 

Vitellum  ovi  spongia  parare,  270. 

Viscum  seu  gluten  vel  collam  de  corio  bovis  vel  vaooe  &- 
cere,  186. 

Viscum  casei  seu  collam  aut  gluten  facere,  127, 163. 

Warencia  colore  rubeo  pelles  tingere,  258. 


*  Malum  premium. — [Marginal  note  by  author.] 


TABULA  IMPERFECTA,  45 

Ynltmn  et  nudorum  corporum  colores,  sdlioet  exedram  vel 
posam  et  alios  facere,  133,  317,  344. 

Womiam  oolorem  sic  in  Anglia  nominatum  qui  est  aptus  ad 
tingendiim  lannas  est  purpureus,  aliter  folium  dictus  distem- 
perare,  162, 164. 


Tabula  ad  rbperiendum  quodlibet  capitulum  arcium 
fabulis  et  aurifabulis  et  rerum  et  accidencium  illis 
con&rencium  nee  non  operum  exerciciorum  que  et 
contingencium  eorum. 

Aqua  cayans  femim,  64. 

Anna  et  alia  ferramenta  conservare  a  rubi^ne,  69,  348. 

Attribucio  cujuslibet  ex  metallis  alicni  ex  septem  planetis 
oontinetur  post  numerum,  46. 

Aurare  cuprum  fellis  pinguedine  seu  liquore,  226. 

Aurare  auricalcum,  249. 

Aurare  metaUa  fiisilia,  252. 

Aurare  ferrum,  237,  238. 

Auraturam  facere,  253. 

Auratoram  metalli  perditam  recuperare. 

Aurei  coloris  ferrum  facere,  67. 

Aureo  colore  metallos  colorare,  66. 

Auricalcum  aurare,  249. 

Auricalcum  &cere,  49. 

Auricalcum  seu  lathonum  solidare,  65. 

Auricalcum  seu  lathonum  pulcrum  facere  »cut  aurum,  82. 

Aurum  et  argentum  fondere,  365. 

Argentum  et  aurum  fondere,  365. 

Azarium  et  ferrum  temperare,  57,  58,  61,  62,  83,  84,  223, 
333,364 


(    46     ) 


EXPERIMENTS  UPON  COLOURS. 


1.  Know  that  gold  letters  are  thus  written  with  the  following 
water.  Take  of  sulphur  vivum,  of  the  inner  bark  of  the  pome- 
granate, of  alum,  salt,  and  gold  dust  (?),  as  much  as  you  like, 
and  liquid  gum  water  and  a  little  saffron.     Mix,  and  write. 

2.  To  erase  black  letters  upon  paper. — Make  a  water  from  the 
following  things.  Take  nitre,  and  Roman  vitriol,  of  each  one 
pound,  and  distil  them  in  an  alembic,  and  a  clear  water  will 
be  produced ;  with  this  water  slightly  moisten  a  sponge,  and 
rub  the  letters  with  it.^ 

3.  To  makejine  azure. — Take  plates  of  fine  silver,  and  put 
them  into  a  new  jar ;  cover  the  jar  closely  with  a  tile,  and  place  it 
in  the  skins  of  the  grapes  for  40  days ;  then  scrape  off  the 
efflorescence,  which  you  will  find  upon  the  plates,  and  which  is 
fine  azure. 

4.  Also  azure  which  is  notjine  is  made  in  another  way. — Put 
vinegar  into  a  glass  bottle,  the  mouth  of  which  must  be  well 
covered  with  tenacious  earth,  and  let  it  be  buried  in  horse  dung 
for  a  month,  and  afterwards  dry  it  in  the  sun. 

5.  To  make  azure. — ^Take  a  vase  of  pure  copper,  and  put  into 
it  a  colour  [pigment]  made  of  white  marble  (some  recipes  say 
quicklime)  so  as  to  half  fill  it.  Afterwards  fill  it  up  with  very 
strong  vinegar,  cover  it  over,  and  put  in  a  warm  place,  or  under 
dung,  for  a  month,  and  you  will  find  a  blue  good  both  for  panels 
and  walls. 

6.  For  the  same. — ^Take  a  new  glazed  jar,  or  a  vase  of  silver, 
and  put  into  it  plates  of  very  pure  silver,  as  many  as  you  like, 
rubbed  over*  with  good  wine,  and  place  the  jar  under  the  refuse 

*  The  produce  of  this  distillation  is  nitric  add. 
3  From  sborfatOf  a  Bolognesc  word. 


(    47    ) 


EXPERIMENTA  DE  COLORIBUS. 


1.  Nota  qnod  auree  littere  scribimtur  sic,  cum  ista  aqua ; 
acdpe  sulphur  vivum,  et  corticem  interiorem  mali  granati, 
aluminis,  saltis,  et  de  pluvia  auri,  tantum  quantum  vis,  et 
aquam  gummi  liquide,  et  modicum  de  croco,  et  misce^  et  scribe. 

2.  Ad  delendum  litteras  nigras  de  carta, — Fac  aquam  de*  in- 
frascriptis  rebus.  Accipe  salniterum,  et  vitriolum  Romanum, 
de  qnolibet  libram  unam,  et  distilla  per  alembicum,  et  crit 
clara  aqua,  et  cum  ipsa  aqua  balnea  spongiam  modicum,  et  de 
ipsa  firica  litteras. 

3.  Ad  faciendum  azurium  Jinum. — Recipe  laminas  argenti 
fini,  et  pone  in  oUa  nova,  et  cooperiatur  bene  cum  tegula,  et 
pone  oUam  in  vinariis  uvarum  per  dies  xl*,  et  flos  quem  re- 
pereris  super  laminas  radde,  quod  est  azurium  finum. 

4.  Item  aliter  azurum  nan  Jinum  Jit. — Ponatur  acctum  in 
ampulla  vitrea,  cujus  orificium  bene  cooperiatur  cum  terra 
tenaci,  etsepeliatur  in  fimo  equino  perunum  mensem,  ct  postea 
Biccetur  ad  solem. 

5.  Ad  faciendum  azurrum, — Recipe  ampullam  de  puro 
cupro  et  pone  intus  colorem  de  albo  marmore,  ita  ut  sit  dime- 
dia ;  et  in  aliis  receptis  dicitur  calx  viva.  Postea  imple  de 
aceto  fortissimo,  et  cooperiri,  et  pone  in  loco  calido,  rel  sub 
fimo,  per  mensem,  et  invenies  azurrum  bonum,  in  ligno,  et  in 
pariete. 

6.  Ad  idem. — Habeas  ollam  novam  incretatam,  vol  vas  ar- 
genti, et  immitte  laminas  argenti  purissimi,  quot  vis,  brofatas 
bono  vino ;  et  roitte   vas  in  profundo   viaziarum,^  per  dies 

^  Id  est  infrascriptum  et  scribitur  ut  supra  causa  brcvitatis.— [Marginal 
note  by  author.]  >  Vindemiarum  ? 


48  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BBOUE. 

of  the  grapes  for  36  or  40  days ;  and  afterwards  scrape  or  shake 
off  into  a  clean  vase  the  efflorescence  which  you  find  round  and 
about  the  plates,  which  efflorescence  is  preserved  upon  the  plates, 
in  the  same  manner  as  rust  upon  iron,  and  verdigris  upon  plates 
or  in  vases  of  brass. 

7.  To  make  azure, — ^Take  very  thin  plates  of  fine  silver,  as 
many  as  you  like.  You  must  also  have  a  glazed  earthen  jar,  with 
a  cover;  and  on  the  middle  of  the  under  part  of  this  cover  there 
must  be  a  small  hook,  to  which  you  must  hang  the  silver  plates 
with  a  silver  thread,  so  that  they  may  not  touch  each  other ; 
and  put  very  strong  vinegar  into  the  s^d  jar,  so  as  not  to  toudi 
the  plates,  but  to  reach  near  them  ;  and  close  carefully  the  said 
cover  with  a  piece  of  linen  and  with  glue,  and  put  the  jar  for 
15  days  under  dung,  or  over  a  slow  fire  or  under  the  refuse  of 
grapes.  Afterwards  scrape  off  the  azure  which  you  find  upon 
the  plates,  and  if  you  want  more  azure,  do  the  same  with  the 
plates  as  you  did  before. 

8.  Green  from  copper  or  brass  is  made  in  the  same  maimer 
with  plates  of  brass,  as  was  directed  to  be  done  with  silver  plates 
to  make  blue. 

9.  To  make  perfect  azure. — ^Take  an  earthen  jar  with  a  cover 
similar  to  that  in  which  ceruse  is  made,  and  take  sheets  or  plates 
of  fine  tin,  wetted  with  strong  vinegar,  and  sprinkled  over  with 
powdered  white  quicklime,  place  the  vase,  with  the  aforesaid 
plates,  in  the  dung  of  sheep  or  horses,  for  10  days,  and  then 
scrape  off  the  efflorescence  which  you  find  on  the  tin  plates,  and 
if  you  want  more  of  it,  put  back  the  jar  with  the  plates  as  before. 

10.  To  make  perfect  ultramarine  azure, — ^Take  of  lapis  lazuli 
as  much  as  you  like,  and  grind  it  very  fine  upon  a  porphyry  slab. 
Then  make  a  cake  or  pastille  of  the  following  ingredients, 
namely,  if  there  is  one  pound  of  lapis  lazuli,  take  vi.  oz.  of  Greek 
pitch,  ij.  oz.  of  mastic,  ij.  oz.  of  wax,  ij.  oz.  of  black  pitch,  ij.  oz.  of 
gum  firom  the  pine,  1  oz.  of  oil  of  spike  or  of  linseed,  and  ^  oz. 
of  turpentine.  All  these  things  must  boil  in  a  pipkin  until  they 
are  nearly  liquefied,  afterwards  strain  them  into  cold  water,  and 
take  what  drops  into  the  water  throu^  the  strainer,  and  knead 


EXPERIMENTA  DE  COLORIBUS.  49 

xxxYi.  vel  xl^;  postea  excudas  seu  raddas  in  vas  mundum 
florem  quern  inyeneris  in  oercuita  laminarum,  qui  floB  conser- 
?atur  super  ipsis  laminis,  sicut  fit  rubigo  super  ferro,  et  viride 
eria  super  laminas  vel  in  vasis  eris. 

7.  Adfaciendumiizurruni. — ^Recipe  laminas  argenti  fini  quot 
Tis  subtilissimas,  et  habeas  vas  terre  vitriatum  cum  coperculo, 
et  in  parte  inferiori  dicti  coperculi  sit  unus  uncinellus  in  medio, 
cui  suspendas  laminas  suprascriptas  cum  filo  argenteo,  taliter 
quod  lamine  non  se  tangant  invicem ;  et  in  vase  mitte  acetum 
fortissimum,  tantum  quod  non  tangat  ipsas  laminas,  set  stet 
prope ;  et  optura  bene  dictum  coperculum  cum  pecia  lini,  et 
cum  cola,  et  pone  vas  sub  fimo  per  xv^^  dies,  vel  ad  ignem 
temperatum,  vel  sub  vinariis ;  postea  radde  azurum  quod  in- 
veneris  super  laminas,  et,  si  plus  velis,  fac  iterum  de  ipsis  lami- 
nis ut  fedsti. 

8.  Ad  viride  rami  seu  eris. — flat  eo  modo  de  laminis  eris,  ut 
supra  dictum  est  de  argenteis  pro  azurro. 

9.  Ad  faciendum  azurrum  perfectum* — Acdpe  vas  terrenum, 
cum  coperculo  tali,  ut  illud  de  quo  fit  cerusia,  et  babe  laminas 
seu  plactas  fini  stagni,  balneatas  aoeto  forti,  et  sparsas  alba  calce 
viva  pulverizata,  et  pone  vas,  cum  laminis  suprascriptis  in  ipso, 
in  fimo  pecorum  vel  equorum,  per  decem  dies ;  postea  radde 
florem  quem  invenies  super  laminis^  et,  si  plus  vis,  repone  vas 
cum  laminis,  ut  prius. 

10.  Ad  faeiendum  azurrum  uUramarinum  perfectum. — Re- 
cipe de  lapide  lazulli  quantum  vis,  et  teres  super  lapide  porfirico 
subtiliasime,  et  fac  massam  seu  pastilum  ex  rebus  insertis; 
videlicet,  A  dictus  lapis  est  libra  una  acdpe  oncias  vj.  pids 
Grece,  ondas  ij.  masticis,  ondas  ij.  cere,  ondas  ij.  picis  nigre, 
oncias  ij.  gummi  pini,  onciam  j.  olei  spici  vel  lini,  et  onciam  ^ 
trementinse,  que  omnia  buliant  in  uno  pignatello,  usque  dum 
quasi  sint  strinta  [strutta  ?],  et  postea  cola  in  aqua  irigida,  et  tolle 
quod  cadit  in  aqua,  quod  est  celatum,  et  deducas,  et  misces  bene 

VOL.  I.  *  B 


50  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

and  mix  it  well  with  the  powder  of  the  lapis  lazuli  until  it  is 
well  incorporated ;  and  so  let  it  stand  for  viij.  days ;  and  the 
longer  it  stands,  the  better  and  finer  will  be  the  azure.  After- 
wards work  this  paste  in  your  hands,  throwing  it  into  water,  and 
keep  the  first  water  by  itself,  and  the  second  by  itself,  and  the 
third  also  by  itself.  And  when  you  see  the  azure  sink  to  the 
bottom,  pour  ofi^  the  water,  and  keep  the  azure. 

11.  To  makejine  lake. — Take  the  ashes  of  oak,^  and  make 
a  ley,  and  boil  in  it  clippings  of  fine  scarlet  of  rubea  de  grana' 
until  the  colour  is  extracted  from  the  clippings,  and  then  straio 
the  ley  with  the  colour  through  a  linen  cloth.  Afterwards  take 
some  more  ley,  similar  to  what  you  first  took,  and  heat  it,  and 
put  into  it  some  finely  powdered  roche  alum,  and  let  it  stand 
until  the  alum  is  dissolved.  Then  strain  it  through  the  strainer 
with  the  other  liquor  or  ley  in  which  the  clippings  were  put,  and 
immediately  the  ley  will  be  coagulated,  and  make  a  lump  or 
mass,  which  you  must  stir  well.  Remove  it  afterwards  from  the 
vase,  and  lay  it  on  a  new  hollow  brick,  which  will  absorb  the 
ley,  and  the  lake  will  be  left  dry.  You  must  afterwards  take 
it  off  the  brick  and  keep  it  for  use. 

12.  Abo  to  make  lake. — Take  1  oz.  of  lac,  which  is  a  certain 
gum  called  lac,  or  take  some  of  the  grana  with  which  scarlet 
cloths  are  dyed,  and  st.eep  it  in  ley,  or  in  urine,  so  as  to 
cover  over  the  lac,  or  the  grana,  and  let  it  boil  for  half  an 
hour  on  a  moderate  fire  without  smoke,  namely,  with  smith's 
charcoal,  stirring  it  continually  with  a  stick  whilst  it  boils.  Af- 
terwards take  i  an  oz.  of  roche  alum  and  j^  an  oz.  of  sal  gem, 
and  grind  them  well  with  ley,  and  put  them  into  the  vase  before 
it  ceases  to  boil.  Tien  remove  the  vase  from  the  fire,  and  let 
it  cool.  Afterwards  take  a  glazed  jar,  and  a  little  urine,  or 
strong  ley,  and  empty  the  before-mentioned  jar  into  it,  and  stir 
or  shake  it  every  evening  and  every  morning,  and  afler  15  days 


>  The  Turkey  oak,  the  Cerro  o(  the  Italians. 

*  Strictly  speaking,  *' Rubea *' means  madder,  and  **  Grana"  kermes; 
but  as  It  appears  that  at  this  period  the  kermes  was  generally  used  to 


EXPEKIMENTA  BE  COLORIBUS.  51 

illud  per  dictum  pulverem  lapidis  lazuli,  donee  bene  incor- 
porentur  omnia,  et  sic  stent  per  viii®  dies,  et,  quanto  plus  stete- 
rint,  tanta  azurrum  erit  melius,  et  magis  finum ;  et  postea  de- 
duc  hanc  massam  per  manus,  proiciendo  cum  aqua,  et  primam 
aquam  serva  per  se,  et  secundam  per  se,  et  tertiam  per  se.  Et, 
poatquam  videris  azumim  descensum  ad  fundum,  proioe  aquam 
et  retine  azurrum. 

11.  Ad  faciendum  lacham  Jinam. — ToUe  cineres  ligni  cerri, 
vel  roboris,  et  iac  lecivium,  et  in  ipso  &c  bulire  cimaturam 
scarlate  fine  rubee  de  grana,  tantum  quod  ex  dicta  dmatura 
extractus  foi  color  ;  postea  ipsum  lessiyium,  cum  dicta  cima- 
Inra,  coUa  per  pannum  lineum ;  postea  accipe  de  alio  lexivio 
simili  suprascripti  quod  prius  accepisti,  et  calefac,  et  pone  in 
ipso  de  alumine  roche  trito  subtiliter,  et  permitte  donee  alumcn 
at  fusum,  postea  cum  dicto  colatorio  cola  ipsum  in  dicta  alia 
collatnra  vel  lexivio,  in  quo  stetit  cymatura,  et  subito  dictum 
lessiyium  stringetur,  et  fadet  unam  bussaturam  seu  massam, 
quam  mistica  bene,  et  postea  trahe  ipsam  de  vase,  et  pone  in 
madono  concave  novo,  qui  bibet  lessivium,  et  remanebit  sicca 
dicta  lacha,  quam  postea  trahe  de  madone  et  serva  usui. 

12.  Item  ad  faciendum  lacham^ — ^ToUe  unciam  unam  lache, 
que  est  quedam  gumma  dicta  lacha,  vel  accipe  de  grana  de  qua 
tinguntur  scarlate,  et  pone  in  lissivio  vel  orina  viri,  tanta  que 
coperiat  lacham  seu  granam,  et  £eu;  bullire  per  mediam  horam 
ad  ignem  temperatum,  absque  fumo,  videlicet  cum  carbonibus 
fabrorum,  deducendo  cum  baculo  semper  dum  bulit.  Postea 
toUe  onciam  ^  aluminis  roche,  et  onciam  \  salis  geme,  et  mole 
bene  cum  lexivio,  et  postea  pone  in  vase  suprascripto  antequam 
cesset  bulire.  Postea  leva  vas  ab  igne,  et  permitte  frigidari. 
Postea  toUe  unum  vas  vitriatum,  et  unum  paucum  urini  homi- 
nis,  vel  de  lessivio  fortissimo,  et  mitte  simul  de  super  vase,  et 
dedue  vel  agita  omni  sero  et  omni  mane,  et  post  xv^"'  dies  cola 


dyeing  scarlet,  and  as  the  recifies  for  making  this  **Lacca  di  Cimatura*' 
generally  direct  the  clippings  oi' cloth  dyed  with  kcrnies  to  be  used,  it  is 
probable  that  the  kermcs  was  meant  in  the  present  case,  and  not  madder. 

VOL.  I.  *  E  '2 


52  MANUSGREPTB  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGITE. 

strain  it  by  means  of  a  linen  bag  placed  upon  a  new  tile,  which 
will  immediately  dry  the  lake,  which  will  remain  in  the  bag, 
and  which  you  may  keep  for  use,  and  when  you  wish  to  use  it, 
grind  it  well  upon  a  slab,  and  work  with  it  And  if  you  like 
strain  the  water  again,  as  before  directed ;  and,  if  you  wish  to 
make  more  lake,  boil  the  said  water,  and  take  more  of  the 
before-mentioned  ingredients,  and  do  as  before,  and  it  will  be 
finer  than  the  first  mentioned  above. 

13.  To  make  very  fine  lake. — Take  clippings  of  very  fine 
scarlet  of  rubea  de  grana,  and  put  them  into  a  vase,  with  suffi- 
cient urine  to  cover  the  clippings  to  the  depth  of  one  or 
two  fingers'  breadths,  and  let  it  stand  for  some  days,  until 
the  clippings  are  decomposed,  which  you  may  know  by  touching 
them  with  your  hand  or  your  fingers.  Afterwards  take  them 
out  of  the  vase,  without  squeezing  them,  and  put  them  on  a 
clean  stone,  and  allow  the  liquor  to  flow  out  by  itself.  Then 
grind  it  well  upon  a  stone,  aud  strain  it  through  a  thin  piece  of 
linen,  and  you  will  have  fine  lake,  to  use  upon  paper,  parch- 
ment, and  upon  primed  wooden  panels,  but  not  on  walls. 

14.  To  make  a  Jine  rose  colour. — ^Take  fine  brexillium,  and 
scrape  it  fine,  and  take  strong  ley  made  with  the  ashes  of  oak, 
and  make  it  boil,  and  pour  it  over  the  said  verzino  into  a  glazed 
earthen  saucer,  so  as  to  cover  the  brexillium,  and  let  it  stand 
for  an  hour.  Then  take  egg-shells,  pound  them  well,  and 
grind  them  very  fine  on  a  porphyry  slab  with  clear  water,  and 
lay  them  on  a  new  hollow  brick,  that  the  water  may  be  ab- 
sorbed. Afterwards  put  them  into  a  glazed  earthen  jar,  and 
pound  up  some  roche  alum,  and  mix  with  the  powdered  e^- 
shells ;  afterwards  strain  the  ley  in  which  the  verxillium  is  put, 
and  pour  the  ley  which  is  dyed  red  with  the  verzilium  upon 
the  egg-shells,  and  mix,  that  the  whole  may  be  incorporated 
together  ;  and  afterwards  dry  the  lake,  not  in  the  sun,  but  on 
a  hollow  brick,  straining  it  through  a  linen  cloth,  and  you  will 
have  a  perfect  rose  colour. 

15.  AlsOy  to  make  a  colour  deeper  than  rose  colour. — ^Take 
1  oz.  of  scraped  verzino  and  put  it  in  a  glazed  saucer,  with 


'  EXPERIMENTA  DE  COLORIBUS.  53 

cam  saculo  telle  lini,  posito  super  tegula  nova,  que  subito  sicca- 
bit  lacham,  que  remansit  in  saculo,  quam  serva  ad  usum ;  et 
cum  voles  uti,  mole  bene  super  lapide,  et  operare.  Et,  ea  vis, 
recola  diictam  aquam,  prout  dictum  est;  et  si  plus  volueris 
&cere,  he  bulire  dictam  aquam,  et  accipe  de  novo  de  rebus 
supradiedsy  et  £ac  ut  prius,  et  erit  ista  finior  quam  suprascripta. 


13.  Ad  faciendum  lacham  Jbiissimam. — ^Accipe  cimaturam 
scarlate  fine  rubee  de  grana,  et  pone  in  yase  cum  tanta  urina 
hominis,  que  cooperiat  cimaturam  quantum  est  grossitudo  digiti 
unius  vel  duorum,  et  stet  per  plures  dies,  donee  dicta  cimatura 
At  bene  putrefacta,  cujus  putrefactionem  cognosces  tangendo 
cum  manu  vel  digitis.  Postea  trahe  ipsam  de  vase  absque 
ipsam  exprimere,  et  pone  super  mondo  lapide  et  dimitte  ipsam 
per  se  excolare.  Postea  mole  ipsam  bene  super  lapide,  postea 
cola  per  peciam  subtilem  lini,  et  habebis  lacham  finam  pro 
operendo  in  cartis  et  in  tabulis  gissatiis  set  non  in  muro. 

14.  Ad  faciendum  colarem  rosete  fine, — ^Accipe  berxillium 
finum,  et  rade  subtiliter,  et  accipe  de  lessivio  forti  facto  de 
ciiieribus  cerri,  quod  fac  buUire,  et  ipsum  mitte  desuper  dicto 
vereino,  in  una  scutella  terre  vitreata  tantum  quod  cooperiat 
verzillium,  et  stet  per  horam ;  postea  accipe  corticas  ovorum, 
et  trita  bene,  et  molle  super  lapide  porfirico  cum  aqua  clara 
subtiUter,  et  pone  super  madono  concave  novo  ut  aqua  de- 
cioetur.  Postea  pone  in  scutella  vitriata,  deinde  pista  de 
alumine  roche,  et  misce  cum  dictis  corticis  tritis,  et  postea  cola 
lissivium  in  quo  est  verxillium,  et  lessivium  illud  rubefactum 
a  veralio  mitte  desuper  dictas  corticas,  et  misce  ut  incorpo- 
rentar  omnia,  et  postea  desica,  non  ad  solem,  set  super  madono 
coQcavo,  colando  per  tellam,  et  habebis  perfectam  rosetam. 


15.  Ad  faciendum  diam  colorem  plusquam  de  roxeta. — Accipe 
ondam  \i  verzini  rasi,  et  pone  in  scutella  vitriata  cum  tanta 

VOL.  I.  *  B  3 


54  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAK  LE  BEOTTE. 

sufficient  urine  to  cover  it,  and  make  it  boil,  on  a  char- 
coal fire,  for  an  hour ;  then,  before  you  take  it  off  the  fire, 
add  1  oz.  of  honey,  and  mix  it ;  then  remoTc  it  from  the  fire, 
and  leave  it  so  until  the  next  morning,  and  you  will  hare  a  fine 
rose  colour. 

16.  To  make  a  rose  colour  for  drawing  leiiers.-^Tske  red 
brexillium,  and  roche  alum  ground  upon  a  stone,  and  put  them 
both  together  in  whipped  white  of  egg,  and  let  it  stand  for  a 
day  and  a  night,  and  you  will  have  what  was  mentioned. 

17.  Item,  to  make  a  rose  colour, — Put  into  a  glazed  ^ncer 
1  oz.  of  scraped  verzino,  and  pour  in  enough  urine  to  cover 
the  verzino  and  the  ingredients  which  are  to  be  added  after- 
wards. Then  add  1  oz.  of  white  marble,  ground  upon  a  stone 
with  water,  and  dried,  and  ^  oz.  of  roche  alum  in  powder ; 
and  when  putting  the  before-mentioned  ingredients  into  the 
saucer,  let  the  last  thing  which  is  added  be  the  marble  dust 
Do  not  mix  it  until  it  has  stood  in  the  sun  long  enough  for  the 
marble  to  imbibe  the  colour ;  and  if  it  should  dry  in  the  son 
before  the  marble  has  absorbed  the  colour,  add  to  it  some 
more  of  the  same  urine  as  before,  and  let  it  stand  in  the  sun 
until  the  marble  is  sufficiently  coloured,  and  it  will  become 
red,  or  rose  coloured.  Afterwards  strain  it  through  a  linen 
cloth,  and  dry  it  upon  a  baked  stone  or  brick,  and  keep  it 
for  use. 

18.  To  makejlowers  and  letters  of  gold. — Take  sal  ammo- 
niac, and  temper  with  pure  water ;  then  write  with  that  water 
and  draw  flowers,  and,  when  they  are  dry,  lay  gold  leaf  upon 
them. 

19.  To  make  the  colour  purpurinus. — Take  of  sal  ammoniac 
1  oz.,  quicksilver  1  oz.,  sulphur  vivum  1  oz.,  tin  1  oz. ;  melt  the 
tin  over  the  fire,  then  pour  the  quicksilver  into  it,  and  allow  it 
to  stand  for  a  short  time ;  next  grind  the  sal  ammoniac  and 
sulphur  together,  and  add  them  to  the  melted  tin  and  quick- 
silver ;  put  them  all  together  into  a  glass  flask,  so  that  it  may 
be  filled  only  up  to  the  neck,  and  then  cover  the  flask  all  over 
with  chalk,  of  the  thickness  of  one  finger's  breadth ;  place  it 


BXPEBIMENTA  DE  COLORIBVS.  55 

orina  homixiis  que  cooperiatur,  et  fac  bulire  ad  ignem  car- 
iKmum  per  horam ;  pogtea,  antequam  laves  ab  igne,  onciamque 
j.  mellis,  et  misce,  et  leva  ab  igne,  et  dimitte  sic  usque  de 
mane  sequenti,  et  babebis  colorem  rosete  fine. 

16.  Ad  faciendum  edbrem  roxeum  pro  tcribendo  Utteras, — 
Aodpe  vexilium  roxeum,  et  alumen  rozie  tritum  super  lapide, 
et  pane  omnia  in  dara  ovi  spongiata,  et  stet  per  diem  et  noc- 
tem,  et  habebis  quod  dictum  est 

17.  Rem  ad  faciendum  colorem  roxaceum. — ^Foue  in  scutella 
idtriata  onciam  i.  verzini  raa,  et  pone  tantam  urinam  pueri 
que  cooperiri  pOBsit  dictum  verzinum,  et  alia  que  secuntur ; 
postea  impone  ondam  i.  marboris  albi,.  triti  super  lapide  cum 
aqua  clara,  et  siocati,  et  onciam  J^  aluminis  roche  triti,  et  ulti- 
mmn  quod  ponetur  in  dicta  scutella,  pouendo  in  ipsa  ea  que 
dicta  sunt,  sit  dictus  marmor  tritus ;  et  non  misceas,  donee 
steterit  ad  solem  tantum  quod  marmor  ceperit  colorem,  et  si 
acaretur  ad  solem  antequam  marmor  cepsset  colorem,  pone 
iterum  de  simili  urina  ut  prius,  et  stet  ad  solem  donee  marmcNr 
ceperit  colorem,  et  devenerit  rubeus  seu  roxaoeus.  Postea 
cola  per  panniun  lineum,  et  fiic  acoari  cum  lapide  cocto  seu 
madono,  et  serva  ad  usuul 


18.  Ad  faciendum  Jbres  et  litterae  auri,^  Accipe  sal  armo- 
Diacum,  et  distempera  in  aqua  pura,  et  de  ilia  aqua  scribe,  et 
be  flores,  et  cum  desicate  sint,  pone  desuper  fiilium  aurL 

19.  Ad  faciendtan  purpurinum  colorem. — Accipe  sal  armo- 
niacum  onciam  L,  argentum  vivium  onciam  i.,  sul|^ur  vivium 
ondam  L,  Stangnum  onciam  i.,  et  fonde  dictum  Stagnum  ad 
ignem,  et  in  ipso  mitte  argentum  vivum,  et  dimitte  stare  ali- 
qnantulum,  et  mole  dictum  sal  armoniacum  et  sulphur  simul ; 
et  pone*  in  dicto  stagno  liquefacto,  in  quo  est  argentum  vivum, 
et  omnia  pone  in  ampula  vitri,  quod  ex  ipsis  impleatur  solum 
usque  ad  collum,  et  sic  ipsa  ampula,  circumlinita  de  creta 


56  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  L£  BB&UE. 

in  a  small  furnace,  in  a  bole  at  the  top  of  the  fornaoe  made 
for  this  purpose,  so  that  the  flask  may  only  be  half  way  throng 
the  hole,  and  then,  by  means  of  a  hole  made  in  the  side  of 
the  furnace,  make  a  strong  fire  in  it,  and  cover  the  mouth  of 
the  flask  with  a  plate  of  iron,  pierced,  in  order  that  the  vapour 
may  escape  firom  the  flask,  and  continiie  the  fire  strongly  uotil 
the  fumes  cease  to  come  from  the  flask.  Then  remove  it  from 
the  fire,  let  it  cool,  break  the  flask,  and  take  your  purpurinos; 
and  when  you  want  to  use  it,  temper  it  with  gum-water  or 
with  whipped  white  of  egg* 

20.  To  make  a  rose-coloured  water  for  shading  figures  and  other 
things, — Put  scraped  verzino  into  whipped  white  of  egg,  and 
let  it  stand  for  a  day.  Then  strain  and  squeeze  throu^  a 
cloth,  and  temper  what  passes  through  with  pure  water :  shade 
whatever  you  like  with  it,  both  on  parchment  and  on  paper. 
I  think  that  the  colour  will  not  be  extracted  firom  the  said 
brexillium  or  verzino,  unless  a  little  roche  alum  be  added. 

21 .  To  erase  letters  on  parchment  udthovt  injury  to  the  paper. 
— Take  a  hare's  skin  and  dress  it,  and  salt  it  down,  afterwards 
dry  it  over  the  smoke  of  a  fire,  and  reduce  it  to  powder ;  put 
some  of  this  powder  upon  the  letters  which  you  wish  to  erase, 
and  rub  them  with  pumice-stone,  and  the  letters  will  be  erased 
without  injury  to  the  paper. 

22.  To  make  letters  which  will  seem  to  be  of  gold. — ^Make  a 
small  hole  in  a  hen*s  egg,  and  take  out  the  white  only,  and  fill 
the  egg  with  quicksilver ;  close  up  the  opening  carefully,  place 
it  under  hot  dung  for  40  days.  Then  remove  the  quicksilver, 
and  take  1  oz.  of  crystal  and  reduce  it  to  a  very  fine  powder, 
and  incorporate  it  with  the  yolk  of  the  egg.  Then,  with  this 
composition  smear  the  paper,  or  whatever  else  you  want,  and 
when  it  is  dry  rub  gold  or  silver  upon  it,  and  it  will  fenuun  of 
the  colour  of  gold  or  silver. 

23.  That  letters  may  seem  to  be  of  gold. — Mix  sal  nitrinum 
with  water  and  write  upon  parchment,  and  illuminate  it  with 
juice  of  celandine  and  warm  the  paper,  and  the  letters  will 
appear  like  gold. 


'     EXPEWMENTA  DE  COLORIBUS.  57 

grossa,  per  grosseciam  unius  digiti,  quam  pone  in  paira  fornace 
per  foramen  fornacis  superiuB,  propter  hoc  factum,  ita  quod 
dicta  ampula  descendat  in  dicto  foramine  solum  usque  ad 
medium  ampule ;  et  postea,  per  aliud  foramen  factum  a  latere 
dicte  fomacis,  immitte,  et  &c  ignem  fortem,  et  cooperi  orificium 
ampule  cum  lamina  ferri  forata,  ut  exeat  famus  ampule,  et 
continua  fortem  ignem  usque  quo  fumus  ampule  cessaverit 
exire,  et  tunc  leva  ab  igne,  et  dimitte  frigidari,  et  rumpe 
ampulam,  et  accipe  purpurinum,  et  ipsum,  cum  vis  operari, 
distempera  cum  aqua  gummata,  Tel  cum  clara  ovi  spongiata. 

20.  Ad  faciendum  aquam  roxeaceam  pro  umbrando  ymagines 
et  alia. — Pone  de  verxino  raso,  in  albumine  ovi  spongiato,  et 
stet  per  diem.  Postea  cola  per  telam,  stringendo,  et  quod 
exierit  distempera  cum  aqua  pura,  et  umbra  quod  vis,  in  carta, 
et  papiro.  Credo  quod  color  non  exibit  a  dicto  brexillo,  sen 
verzino,  nisi  ponatur  de  alumine  roze. 

21.  Ad  delendum  litteras  de  carta  absque  lesione  carte,-^ 
Accipe  cossam  leporis,  et  decoria  ipsam,  et  postea  in  salla,  et 
desicca  ad  fiimum  ignis,  et  pulveriza,  et  posito  de  ipso  pulvere 
super  litteris  quas  raddere  vis,  trahe  desuper  pumicem,  et 
radetur  absque  lesione  carte. 

22.  Ad  faciendum  litteras,  que  videantur  esse  de  aura. — Fac 
in  ovo  galine  foramen  parvum,  et  extrahe  albumen  solum,  et 
postea  reple  ovum  argento  vivo,  et  claude  bene  foramen  ovi,  et 
ipsum  pone  sub  fimo  calido  per  dies  xl* ;  postea  extrahe  ar- 
gentum  vivum,  et  accipe  onciam  i.  cristalli,  et  pulveris  subtilis- 
sime,  et  incorpora  cum  dicto  vitello.  Dein  cum  dicta  pasta 
unge  cartam  aut  quidquid  vis,  et,  cum  siccaverit,  frica  de- 
super  cum  auro  vel  argento,  et  remanebunt  colons  ami  vel 
argenti. 

23.  Ut  littere  videantur  de  auro. — ^Incorpora  salnitrinum 
cum  aqua,  et  scribe  in  carta,  et  inlumina  cum  suco  celidonie, 
et  calefac,  et  videbuntur  de  auro. 


58  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEQT7E. 

24  To  mahd  ffdd  or  silver  letters. — Take  sal  ammoniac,  the 
juioe  of  pounded  vervain  mallows,  and  gum  arabic,  mix  all 
these  together,  temper  them  with  urine  so  as  to  make  them 
rather  liquid ;  afterwards  make  the  mixture  liquid  with  gam- 
arable.  Then  write  whatever  you  like  with  this  liquid  and  let 
it  dry.  Then  breathe  upon  it  well  with  your  mouth,  so  that 
the  surface  of  it  may  be  rather  damp,  and  lay  gold  leaf  upon 
it,  and  press  it  on  li^Uy  with  a  pieoe  of  cotton. 

25.  7b  make  letters  ofsiher. — Take  three  parts  of  quidL*- 
diver  and  a  fourth  part  of  tin,  melt  them  together,  and  let  the 
mixture  cool ;  then  grind  it  on  a  stone  and  temper  it  with 
a  solution  of  gum-arabic ;  write  with  it  and  let  it  dry,  and 
polish  it  with  the  tooth  of  a  dog  or  other  animal,  fit  for  the 
purpose,  and  the  letters  will  be  beautiful  and  brilliant. 

26.  To  make  letters  appear  like  gold. — ^Take  the  horn  of  a 
goat,  cut  it  into  very  small  pieces,  and  distil  it  in  an  alembic, 
and  keep  the  water  which  comes  over,  in  a  glazed  jar,  in  the 
sun  for  some  days ;  afterwards  write  with  this  water,  and  the 
letters  will  appear  like  gold. 

27.  To  erase  letters  from  parchment. — ^Take  the  juioe  of  an 
orange  and  dip  cotton  or  sponge  in  it,  and  rub  it  li^dy  upon 
the  letters,  and  it  will  erase,  them  perfectly.  But  as  the  pardi- 
ment  will  be  wetted  and  made  soft,  it  must  be  rendered  dry 
and  white  in  the  followii^  manner: — ^Take  white  lime  in 
powder  and  mix  it  with  dear  water,  and  afterwards  strain 
through  a  piece  of  white  linen,  dip  cotton  in  the  water  which 
has  been  strained  and  dab  it  upon  the  parchment  where  it  is 
aoft;,  and  it  will  become  white  and  firm.  I  think  it  would  be 
better  to  dip  the  cotton  in  dry  lime,  and  not  to  wet  it 

28.  To  make  a  green  ink  for  «rrthii^.— Take  of  good  vinegar 
OS.  ij.,  sal  ammoniac  oz.  ij.,  common  salt  oz.  ij.,  brass  filings 
oz.  ij.,  put  them  all  together  in  a  glass  flask  for  six  days,  and 
it  will  make  a  green  ink,  which  you  must  strain  and  keep  for 
use. 


EXPEBIMENTA  DB  COLORIBUS.  59 

24*  Adfacimdvm  tUteras  aureas  vel  arffenteos, — ^Accipe  sal 
armoniacani,  et  suocum  aid  pistii  et  gumirabicum,  et  hec  eimul 
distempera,  et  postea  distempera  cum  urina,  ut  sit  liquida 
aliqnantulum ;  postea  perfecte  liquidam  facies  cum  aqua  gum<- 
iraUd,  poetea  scribe  cum  hoc  que  vis,  et  permitas  sicari,  et 
postea  flaa  desuper  cam  ore  multum  bene,  ut  aliquanttdum 
humedetur  superfides,  et  pone  desruper  folium  auri,  super  quo 
deduc  leyiter  bombacem.^ 

25.  Adfaciendum  litteras  argenti. — Acdpe  argentum  yiyum 
per  tres  partes,  et  per  quartam  de  stagno^  et  fbnde  simul,  et 
permitte  frigidari,  et  moUe  super  lapide,  et  distempera  cum 
aqua  gami  arabici,  et  scribe  cum  hoc,  et  permitte  siccari,  et 
polias  cam  dente  canis  vel  alterius  animalis  ad  hoc  apto,  et 
enmt  pulcre  littere  et  luoentes. 

26.  Ui  littere  videantur  de  auro.— -Acdpe  coma  yrci,  et 
ipsum  indde  minutissime,  et  distilla  per  alembicum,  et  aquam 
que  exibit  tene  in  rase  vitriato  ad  solem  per  aliquot  dies,  et 
postea  cum  ipsa  aqua  scribe  et  littere  videbuntur  de  auro. 

27.  Ad  delendum  litteras  de  carta. — Acdpe  suocum  pomi 
ranni,  et  in  ipso  balnea  bombacem  rel  spongiam,  et  frica  le- 
Titer  super  litteras,  et  optime  dellet,  et  quia  carta  libri  bal- 
neatur,  et  efficitur  mollis,  remediari  debet  isto  modo,  ut  sit 
dooa  et  alba.  Acdpe  floretn  calds,  distemperate  cum  aqua 
clara,  postea  cola  cum  peda  lini  alba,  et  de  aqua  alba  que 
exibit  balnea  bombacem,  quam  ducas  super  cartam  ubi  mollis 
erat,  et  fiet  alba  et  solida.  Credo  quod  melius  esset  intingere 
bombacem  in  calce  sicca  et  non  madida. 

28.  Ad  faciendum  aquam  viridem  ad  scribendum. — Accipe 
boDum  acetum  oncias  iL,  salis  armoniad  ii.,  salis  communis 
oociaa  ii.,  limature  ens  oncias  ii.,  pone  omnia  in  ampula  yitrea 
per  vj.  dies,  et  fiet  aqua  viridis,  quam  cola  et  reserva. 


'  Bombacem,  id  est  spongiam  ut  jam  supra  vel  lanam.     [Marginal  note 
by  author.] 


60  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

29.  To  make  excellent  azure, — ^Take  cJT  sal  ammoniac  oz.  iij., 
and  of  verdigris  oz.  vi.,  mix  them  together  and  make  ihem  into 
a  paste  with  solution  of  tartar,  and  put  them  into  a  glass  jar, 
which  you  must  stop  up,  and  lute,  and  place  in  warm  dung, 
and  let  it  stand  there  for  some  days,  and  when  you  take  it  up 
you  will  find  the  green  changed  to  excellent  azure. 

30.  For  the  same. — ^Take  of  alum  scagliola  one  part,  of 
vinegar  two  parts ;  grind  them  together  upon  a  slah,  and  make 
them  hoil  a  little  in  a  glass  or  other  vase,  and  put  them  into  a 
glass  flask  and  bury  them  in  dung  for  five  days  or  more,  until 
you  see  it  is  become  of  a  blue  colour.^ 

31.  Good  ink  is  thus  made. — Take  1^  lb.  of  pounded  galk, 
soak  them  in  warm  rain  water,  or  warm  wine  or  vinegar,  of  die 
quantity  of  10  phials,  and  so  let  it  stand  for  a  day  or  more ; 
then  boil  it  until  the  said  water,  wine,  or  vinegar  is  reduced 
to  one-third,  and  let  it  be  taken  off  the  fire  and  a  phial  or  two 
of  wine  or  vinegar  be  immediately  added,  and  let  so  mudi 
water  be  added  as  was  boiled  away  firom  the  said  mixture,  and 
let  them  all  be  put  on  the  fire  again.  When  the  mixture  be- 
^s  to  boil  let  it  be  removed  from  the  fire  ;  when  it  is  only 
just  warm  strain  it,  and  add  to  it  1\  lb.  of  gum-arabic  in 
powder  and  1  lb.  of  Roman  vitriol,  and  mix  the  whole  to- 
gether. 

32.  If  you  wish  to  make  a  gold  or  silver  colour  for  writing. 
— ^Take  talc  and  put  it  into  a  glass  vase,  and  pour  over  it  good 
vinegar  made  from  white  wine,  and  add  mercury  to  it,  namely 
half  an  oz.,  and  1  oz.  of  fish-glue,  and  put  it  on  the  fire,  that 
it  may  become  liquid  like  water,  and  write  with  it,  and  it  will 
make  silver  letters.  If  you  wish  to  make  golden  letters,  add  a 
little  safiron. 

33.  Cement  for  joining  parchment  is  thus  made. — Take  gum- 
arabic  and  whipped  white  of  egg,  dissolve  the  gum  in  this 
white  of  egg  and  let  it  dry  in  the  sun,  and  when  you  wish  to 
use  it  wet  the  edge  of  the  piece  with  your  tongue  and  lips  and 

'  The  colouring  ingredient  seems  wanting  in  this  recipe. 


EXPEBIMENTA  DB  COLORIBUS.  61 

29.  Ad  faciendum  azurrum  optimum, — ^Accipe  salis  anno- 
niaci  oncias  iii.,  viridis  eris  oncias  vi.,  et  misce  simul,  et  con- 
ficiaotur  cum  aqua  tartari  ad  modum  unguentiy  ei  ponantur  in 
ampnla  vitrea,  que  obturetur,  et  luctetur^  et  ponatur  in  fimo 
calido,  et  stet  per  aliquos  dies,  et  accipe  que  invenies,  viridem 
oonversum  in  optimum  azurrum. 

30.  Ad  idem. — Accipe  aluminis  scarole  partem  unam,  aceti 
partes  duas,  tere  simul  super  lapide,  et  bulire  facias  parum  in 
Tase  yitreo  rel  alio  vase,  et  pone  in.ampula  vitrea,  et  sepelias 
in  fimo  per  dies  v.,  vel  plures,  donee  videas  devenisse  azurri 
colores. 

31.  Attramentum  optimum  sic  fit,  —  Recipe  galle  fracte 
libram  1^,  et  pone  in  aqua  pluviali  tepida,  vel  in  aceto,  aut 
vino  tepido,  ad  x.  fialarum  quantitatem,  et  sic  stet  per  unum 
diem  vel  plus,  et  postea  buliantur  donee  remaneant  ad  terciam 
partem  dicte  aque,  seu  vini,  aut  acetiy  et  deponantur  ab  igne, 
et  statim  super  addatur  fiala  una  vel  due  aceti  vel  vini;  et 
ponatur  tantum  de  aqua,  quantum  consummata  fuerit  ipsa 
mixtura,  et  iterum  omnia  ponantur  ad  ignem,  et  cum  inceperit 
bulire  deponatur  ab  igne,  et  cum  ad  tepiditatem  reductum  erit, 
coletur,  et  ponatur  in  ipso  libra  1^  gumi  arabici  pulverizati,  et 
libram  1  vitrioU  romaui,  et  simul  misceantur  omnia. 

32.  Si  visfacere  colorem  aureum  vel  argenteum  ad  scribendum. 
— Accipe  talcb,  et  pone  in  vase  vitreo,  et  superpone  acetum 
de  vemazia  perfectum,  et  pone  cmn  ipso  mercurium,  videlicet 
ondam  i,  et  colam  piscis  ondam  i.,  et  pone  super  ignem  ut 
liqnefiat  ut  aqua,  et  scribe,  et  fient  littere  argentee ;  et  si  vis 
quod  &ciat  litteras  aureas,  pone  cum  ipso  parum  croci. 

33.  CoUa  ad  junffendum  cartas  sic  fit. — Accipe  gummi  ara- 
bici, et  clarum  ovi  spongiati,  et  dissolvatur  gumi  in  ipsa  clara 
on,  et  siccentur  ad  solem,  et  cum  opcrari  volueris,  balnea  caput 
ipAus  masse  cum  lingua  et  labiis  oris^  et  trahe  desuper  cartis 


62  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

apply  it  to  the  parchment  where  the  pieces  are  to  be  joined, 
and  let  it  dry  in  the  shade,  and  the  pieces  will  adhere  firmly 
together.  But  if  you  wish  to  join  paper  only  and  not  parch- 
ment, wheat-flour  or  powdered  bread-crumbs  mixed  with  pure 
water  and  slightly  boiled  is  very  good  for  paper.  But  if  you 
mix  a  little  gum-arabic  or  whipped  white  of  egg  with  it,  it  will 
do  for  parchment. 

34.  If  you  wish  to  erase  letters  from  paper^  take  roche  alum, 
and  grind  it,  and  make  it  into  a  paste  with  the  juice  of  an 
orange,  and  expose  it  to  the  wind,  and  let  it  dry ;  afterwards 
rub  it  upon  the  letters,  and  it  will  erase  them  from  the  paper. 

35.  If  you  wish  to  make  letters  of  the  colour  of  brass,  siher^ 
or  gold^  take  crystal,  and  grind  it  very  fine  upon  a  marble  or 
porphyry  slab,  with  white  of  egg,  and  write  what  you  like  with 
it;  and  when  the  letters  are  dry,  rub  them  with  the  metal 
whose  colour  you  wish  them  to  take,  and  they  will  take  the 
colour.    Powdered  glass  will  do  instead  of  powdered  crystal. 

36.  To  make  lake. — Take  urine,  and  keep  it  for  a  long  while, 
and  afterwards  make  it  boil  until  half  of  it  is  evaporated  upon 
a  slow  and  cleai*  fire,  skimming  it  continually,  until  it  is  per- 
fectly purified.  Then  strain  it  through  a  linen  cloth,  and  put 
4  lbs.  of  it  into  a  glazed  jar  of  the  said  urine,  and  1  lb.  of  raw 
lac  well  ground,  and  add  to  it  a  sufiicient  quantity  of  alumine 
zuccarino,  and  put  it  by  and  keep  it  for  use. 

37.  For  the  same  purpose. — Take  of  gum  lac,  ground  very 
fine,  as  much  as  you  like,  and  put  it  into  clear  urine  for  three 
days,  and  afterwards  make  it  boil  on  the  fire,  and  skim  it  Add 
a  little  Boman  vitriol  to  it,  and  strain  it  through  a  linen  doth 
of  loose  texture  ;  then  add  some  urine,  and  make  it  boil,  always 
stirring  it  with  the  ladle,  until  one  fourth  part  or  more  b  eva- 
porated ;  then  put  it  in  the  sun  and  let  it  dry,  and  keep  it 
for  use. 

38.  If  you  wish  to  remove  oil  from  parchment  or  letters,  take 
bones  of  chicken  or  capons,  and  burn  them  until  they  are  white, 
and  reduce  them  to  powder.     Lay  some  of  this  powder  on  the 


BXPERIMENTA  DB  OOLORIBTrS.  63 

in  lods  jnndnre,  et  junge,  et  pennitte  siccari  ad  umbram,  et 
tenebunt  ee  simul  fortiter.  Set  al  non  cartam,  aet  solum  pa- 
pirum,  jungere  velis.  ftrioa  frumenti,  toI  tritura  panis  subti- 
liata,  et  disiemperata  cnm  aqua  clara,  et  modicum  bulita, 
optima  est  pro  papiro ;  set  si  immisceris  parum  garni  araluci, 
rel  dare  ovi  spongiate,  Talehit  pro  cartis. 

34.  Si  vis  devare  lUteras  de  oartcu — ^Aocipe  aluminis  roche, 
et  tere  et  impasta  cum  suoco  pomi  aranzii,  et  pone  ad  auram, 
et  dimitte  aiccari ;  postea  frica  super  litteras,  et  levabit  eas  a 
carta. 

35.  Si  vis  facere  litteras  colons  erei,  argeintei,  out  aurei.--^ 
Aocipe  cristallum,  et  tere  subtiliter  super  lapide  marmoris  yel 
porfiridy  cum  dara  ovi,  et  scribe  quod  vis  de  ipso  bitumine,  et» 
siccatis  litteris,  frica  desuper  metallum  illud,  cujus  colorem  via 
quod  redpiaut  littere,  et  acdpieut ;  pulver  vitri  esaet  bona  loco 
cristalli  triti. 

86.  Ut  facias  lackam. — ^Acdpe  uriuam  hominia  bibeutia 
bouum  yinum,  et  diu  aerva,  et  postea  bullire  facias  usque  ad  con- 
smnpdonem  medietatisy  semper  despumeudo,  super  leutum  et 
darum  ignem,  donee  sit  optime  purgata ;  postea  cola  per  telam, 
et  pone  in  vase  yitriato  Ubras  iiii^'  dicte  urine,  et  libram  unam 
lache  crude,  bene  trite,  et  pone  de  alumine  Zucarino  quantum 
suffidt,  et  repone  aeryando  ad  opus. 

37.  Ad  idem. — ^Accipe  gumam  lache  quantum  yis  tritam  sub* 
tiliter,  et  pone  in  urina  nitida  per  tres  dies ;  poatea  foe  bulire 
ad  ignem,  et  spuma,  postea  pone  in  ipsa  parum  yitrioli  romani, 
postea  cola  per  pannum  lineum  rarum.  Postea  adde  de  urina, 
et  fac  bulire  agitando  semper  cum  spatula,  donee  consumatur 
circa  quarta  para  yel  plus.  Poatea  pone  ad  solem,  et  dimittas 
siccari,  et  aerya  ad  uaum. 

38.  Si  vis  oleum  de  cartis  vel  litteris  extrahere. — Acdpe 
ossa  pullorum  yel  castroni,  et  arde  usque  ad  albedinem,  et  pul- 
veriza,  et  de  ipso  pulyere  super  pone  ubi  eat  oleum,  et  per* 


64  MANUSCRIPTS  OP  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

place  where  the  oil  is,  and  let  it  stand,  in  summer  in  the  shade» 
and  in  the  sun  in  winter.  If  necessary,  repeat  this  two  or  three 
times.     Lime  also  is  good  for  this  purpose. 

39.  To  maJte  the  colour  purpurtnus  as  beautiful  as  gold. — 
Take  quicksilver  and  tin,  and  melt  them  together ;  then  take 
sulphur  vivum  and  sal  ammoniac,  and  grind  these  two  together, 
and  mix  them  with  the  before-mentioned  ingredients,  grinding 
the  whole  very  fine  upon  a  stone,  with  J  Tlien  put 
them  into  a  glass  flask  well  luted,  so  as  not  to  be  quite  full  of 
the  aforesaid  things,  and  put  them  on  the  fire,  and  let  the  month 
of  the  flask  be  uncovered,  and  let  it  stand  on  the  fire  until  the 
vapour  ceases  to  issue  from  the  mouth  of  the  flask.  Afterwards 
let  it  cool,  and  break  the  flask,  and  collect  and  keep  all  that  is 
above  the  dregs,  and  it  will  be  an  excellent  colour  for  using 
on  books  and  parchment. 

40.  If  you  wish  to  stain^  of  a  green  colour^  bones^  wood^  tabkts^ 
or  panneh  of  woodj  knife- handles,  thread,  and  linen  clotlij  take 
strong  red  vinegar,  in  a  glass  vase,  with  brass  filings,  a  little 
Roman  vitriol,  and  some  roche  alum,  and  make  all  boil  together 
for  a  short  time,  and  allow  it  to  stand  for  a  few  days ;  and  when 
you  wish  to  stain  anything,  put  it  into  this  mixture,  and  let  it 
boil  a  little,  and  it  will  become  of  a  good  and  lasting  colour. 

41.  To  make  a  toater  for  staining  anything  of  any  colour. — 
Take  of  sal  ammoniac  1  lb.,  and  of  nitre  j^  lb.,  and  distil  it  in 
an  alembic ;  and  if  you  take  1  oz.  of  this  water,  and  put  into  it 
the  weight  of  two  florins  of  calcined  gold,  it  will  make  a  yellow 
water ;  if  calcined  silver,  it  will  make  a  blue ;  if  mercury,  a 
black ;  if  calcined  copper,  a  green ;  if  calcined  lead,  a  white 
water ;  and  if  calcined  iron,  a  water  of  a  red  colour.' 

42.  If  you  unsh  to  dye  anything  a  blood  colour,  take  a  very 
strong  lye,  and  soak  in  it  shavings  of  brazillium,  and  ground 

>  So  in  original. 

s  This  water,  which  dissolves  gold,  must  be  Nitro-Muriatic  Acid  (Aqna 
Regia). — See  Henry's  *  Chemistry,*  vol.  ii.  p.  131.  The  recipe  proves 
that  the  solvent  power  of  this  acid  on  gold  was  generally  known  as  early 


SXPERIMENTA  D£  COLORIBUS.  65 

mitte  stare  in  estate  ad  umbram,  in  yeme  ad  solem,  donee 
oleum  exierit  a  carta.  Et,  si  necesse  fuerit,  facias  hoc  bis  vel 
ter ;  et  calx  etiam  est  bonum  ad  hoc  faciendum. 

39.  Ad  faciendum  purpureum  cohrem  pulcrum  et  aurum.—^ 
Accipe  argenti  vivi  et  stagni,  et  fonde  amul ;  postea  accipe 
solphuris  yivi,  salis  armoniaci,  et  tere  simul  hec  duo,  et  pone 
cum  predictis,  terendo  super  lapide  subtiliter  cum  (^<^)» 

postea  pone  in  ampula  vitrea  bene  luctata,  que  de  predictis  non 
sit  plena,  et  pone  ad  ignem,  et  ampula  sit  discoperta  ad  orifi- 
cium,  et  stet  ad  ignem  tarn  diu  quod  fumus  cesset  exire  de 
orificio  ampule ;  postea  dimitte  frigidari,  et  frange  ampullam, 
et  totom  quod  super  feces  fuerit  coUige,  et  serva^  et  est  color 
optimus  ad  ponendum  super  libris  et  cartis. 


40.  Si  vis  in  colore  viridi  tingere  ossa^  ligna^  tabulae,  seu 
tebu  liffni,  manubria  cutelhrum,  JUum^  et  pannum  lini.-^ 
Aodpe  de  aceto  rubeo  et  forti,  in  vase  vitreo,  cum  limatura 
ens,  pamm  vitrioli  romani,  et  de  alumine  roche,  et  he  aliquan- 
tulum  bulire  omnia  simul,  et  permitte  stare  per  aliquos  dies, 
et,  cum  vis  aliqua  tingere,  pone  in  ipsa  mistura,  et  fac  aliquan- 
tolum  bulire,  et  fient  coloris  optimi  perdurantis. 

41.  Ad  faciendum  aquam  ad  tingendum  aliquid  in  quocumque 
cohre. — Aodpe  salis  armoniaci  libram  1,  salis  nitri  libram  ^, 
et  distilla  per  alembicum,  et  A  de  ista  aqua  acceperis  onciam 
unam,  et  in  ipsa  posueris  pondus  duorum  florenorum  auri 
calcinati,  fiet  aqua  crocea ;  si  argenti  caldnati,  fiet  aqua  celes- 
tis ;  si  mercurii,  fiet  aqua  nigra ;  si  cupri  calcinati,  fiet  aqua 
viridis ;  A  plumbi  calcinati,  fiet  aqua  alba ;  et  si  ferri  caldnati, 
fiet  aqua  coloris  rubei. 

42.  Si  vis  aliqua  tingere  in  colore  sanguineo. — ^Acdpe  lesd-* 
mm  fortisdmum,  et  in  ipso  pone  rasuram  Brazillii,  Alumen 


as  1409.  Mr.  Hendrie  (Theoph.^  p.  427)  shows  that  it  was  known  to 
Geber  {DeAlckem,^  Norimb.,  1546,  cap.  xiiii.),  who  lived  during  the 
ninth  century. 

VOL.  I.  P 


66  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEGUE. 

alumen  glaciae ;  and  let  it  stand  for  five  days  or  more,  and  it 
will  be  of  a  blood  colour.  Wbateyer  you  mean  to  dye»  you 
must  soak  in  it  for  three  days,  and  then  boil  it  until  what  you 
have  put  in  it  is  properly  dyed. 

43.  If  you  wish  to  make  verdiffris^  take  a  brass  Tase,  and  put 
urine  into  it  to  the  depth  of  one  finger's  breadth.  Add  a  httle 
sal  ammoniac  to  it,  and  expose  it  to  Tery  strong  sunshine  until 
it  is  dry,  when  you  must  scrape  oflf  whatever  you  find  in  the 
vase,  and  it  will  be  very  good  rerdigris. 

44.  Far  the  same  purpose. — ^Take  of  alum  zucearino  oz.  Ti ; 
of  brass  filings  1  lb. ;  of  common  salt  2  lbs. ;  of  nitre  ij  02. ;  of 
roche  alum,  burnt  and  bleached,  iij  oz.  Reduce  all  these  things 
to  a  very  fine  powder,  and  smear  brass  plates  with  it  Place 
the  brass  plates  m  a  well-covered  glazed  jar ;  and  then,  through 
a  hole  made  in  the  side  of  the  jar,  pour  in  hot  urine  or  hot 
vinegar,  and  close  up  the  hole,  and  place  the  vase  Under  warm 
dung,  and  let  it  remain  there  40  days.  Then  take  it  out,  and 
scrape  the  brass  plates,  and  you  will  have  a  green  colour.  You 
can  repeat  this  several  times,  if  you  wish  to  have  more  colour. 

45.  If  you  wish  to  make  a  very  deep  and  beautiful  yreen^  take 
the  herb  rue,  or  parsley,  when  fresh,  and  extract  the  juice  from 
it,  and  with  this  juice  mix  verdigris,  and  grind  it  upon  a  stone ; 
then  put  it  into  a  shell,  adding  to  it  a  little  strong  vinegar  co- 
loured vrith  safiron,  and  it  will  do  even  without  Uie  safiiron. 
Make  it  liquid  as  if  for  writing,  and  use  it. 

46.  Jff'you  wish  to  make  a  very  green  colour  for  dyeing  skins^ 
takeoffiHngg  of  Venus,  or  copper,  1  part,andof  salammcmiacS 
parts,  and  temper  it  with  urine.  Stretdi  the  skins  which  you  widi 
to  dry  upon  a  hoop,  and  paint  them  on  the  side  next  the  flesh  with 
tins  colour,  and  let  them  dry,  and  the  colour  will  pass  through  to 
the  other  side.  

Whereas  in  the  preceding  recipes  mention  is  made  of  fire  metals,  givii^ 
them  the  names  of  the  planets  to  which  they  are  appropriated,  the  follow- 
ing remarks  are  necessary  in  order  to  understand  them. 

Sol  is  put  for  gold,  the  colour  of  which  is  yellow. 
Luna  for  silver,  the  rust  of  which  is  azure. 


EXPERIHENTA  BE  C0L0R1BU&  67 

glade  tiitum,  et  stet  per  dies  quinque  vel  plus,  et  erit  San- 
guinea,  et  quod  tingere  vis  pona  in  ipsa  per  tres  dies,  et  postea 
fac  bulire,  donee  quod  in  ipsa  ad  tingendum  posueris  tinctum 
nt. 

43.  Si  vis  facere  viridem  ramum, — Accipe  vas  ereum,  et 
pone  in  ipso  urinam,  usque  ad  altitudinem  grossesiei  unius 
di^ti,  et  in  ipsa  pone  parum  salis  armoniaci,  et  mitte  ad  for- 
tisfflmum  solem,  quousque  siccetur,  et  quod  poetea  inveneris,  in 
vase  rade,  et  erit  optimum  rami  viride. 

44.  Ad  idem.  —  Accipe  aluminis  zucarini  onciam  vi.,  et 
limature  eris  libram  j.,  salis  communis  libras  ii.,  nitri  oncias 
ij.,  aluminis  roche  combusti  et  dealbati  oncias  iij.,  pulverisentur 
hec  omnia  subtilissime,  et  unge  laminas  ereas,  quas  pone  in 
vase  vitriato  bene  coperto;  postea  per  foramen  quoddam, 
&ctum  a  latere  vasis,  proice  urinam  calidam  vel  acetum  cali- 
dum,  postea  claude  dictum  foramen,  et  pone  yas  sub  fimo 
calido,  et  stet  ibi  per  xl  dies ;  poetea  toUe  et  radde  tabulas, 
sen  laminafl,  et  habebis  viridem  colorem  ;  et  potes  hoc  pluries 
reiterare,  pro  habendo  plus  de  colore. 

45.  Si  vis  colaratissimum  et  pvlcherrimum  viridem  facere. — 
Accipe  herbam  rute,  vel  petroxellii,  recentem,  et  ex  ipsa  trahe 
riccum,  cum  quo  misce  viride  eris,  et  tore  super  lapide,  postea 
pone  in  ooncfailla,  et  adde  de  forti  aoeto  aliquantulum,  quod  sit 
coloratum  cum  croco ;  et  etiam  absque  croco  potest  fieri ;  et 
distempera  ut  liquidum  sicut  ad  scribendum,  et  operare  de  ipso. 

46.  Si  vis  facere  viridissimum  colorem  pro  pellibus  tinffendis. 
—Accipe  limaturam  veneris  seu  rami,  partem  unam,  et  de  sale 
armoniaco,  partes  duas,  et  distempera  cum  urina,  et  pelles  quas 
m  oolorare  tende  in  circulo,  et  perunge  ex  ipso  colore  ex  parte 
camis,  et  dinntte  siccari  ad  umbram,  et  color  tranribit  ad  aliam 
partem.  

Quia  in  precedentibus  quinque  dicuntur  metalla,  nominando  ea  per 
Bomina  plaDetarum  quibos  appropriantur,  ideo  nt  intelligantur,  nota  nt 
sequitur. 

Pro  sole,  aurum,  cujus  color  croceus  est. 

Pro  luna,  argentum,  cujus  rubigo  color  lazuli  est. 

F  2 


68  MANXJSCRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGTJE. 

Marg  for  iron,  the  rust  of  which  is  violet,  rather  indimng  to 
blackness. 

Mercury  for  quickmWer,  of  which  are  made  sinopis  and  mi- 
nium, which  are  red. 

Jupiter  for  tin. 

Venus  for  copper  or  brass,  the  rust  of  whidi  is  green. 

Saturn  for  lead,  the  rust  of  which  is  a  white  colour. 

Also,  note,  that  in  the  MS.  from  which  I  copied  the  preceding 
recipes,  it  was  thus  written  in  this  place.  '*  The  whole  that  is  con- 
tained in  this  unbound  book,  namely,  from  the  beginning  of  number 
1  to  this  place,  I  copied  *  in  Janua'  in  the  year  1409,  in  the  month 
of  June,  having  extracted  it  from  an  unbound  book  lent  me  bj 
Brother  Dionysius^  of  the  order  of  the  servants  of  St.  Mary, 

which  order  is  called  dd  sacho  at  Milan." 

Also,  in  the  said  MS.,  on  the  margin  of  the  recipe  immediately  fol- 
lowing, where  the  number  47  begins,  was  written,  "1  had  *  in 
Janua'  this  receipt  on  the  1st  day  of  March,  1409.*' 

47.  To  make  good  ink  for  writing^  particularly  for  books. — 
Take  4  bottles  of  good  wine,  white  or  red,  and  1  lb.  of  galls, 
sli^tly  bruised,  which  must  be  put  into  the  wine,  and  allowed 
to  stand  in  it  for  12  days,  and  be  stirred  eyery  day  with  a  stick. 
The  twelfth  day  it  must  be  strained  throu^  a  stndner  of  fine 
linen,  and  must  be  poured  into  a  clean  jar,  and  put  on  the  fire 
to  get  hot,  until  it  almost  boils.  Then  remove  it  from  the  fire, 
and  when  it  has  cooled  so  as  only  to  be  tepid,  put  into  it  4  oz. 
of  gum-arabic,  which  must  be  very  bri^t  and  clear,  and  stir 
it  with  a  stick,  then  add  ^  lb.  of  Roman  vitriol,  and  stir  it  con- 
tinually with  the  stick,  until  all  things  are  well  incorporated 
together,  and  let  it  cool  and  keep  it  for  use.  And  note,  that 
ink  made  with  ¥rine  is  good  for  writing  books  upon  the  sciences, 
because,  when  books  are  written  with  it,  the  letters  do  not  fiide, 
and  can  hardly  be  scraped  out  or  discharged  frtim  parchment 
or  paper.  But  if  they  are  written  with  ink  made  with  water,  it 
is  not  so,  for  they  can  easily  be  scraped  out,  and  it  may  luqipen 
that  the  letters  written  with  it  will  fiEule. 

^  So  in  original. 


EXPERIMENTA  DE  COLORIBUS.  69 

Pro  marte,  ferrum,  cujus  rubigo  violacea  est,  et  pocius  ni- 
gredini  comparata. 

Pro  Mercurio,  argentum  yivum,  de  quo  Sunt  sinopis,  et 
minium^  qui  rubei  sunt. 

Pro  jove,  stagniun. 

Pro  yenere,  ramum,  seu  es,  cujus  rubigo  viridis  est. 

Pro  satumo,  plumbum,  cujus  rubigo  albus  color  est. 

Item,  nota,  quod  in  exemplari  a  quo  prescripta  sumpei,  in  hoc  loco, 
scriptum  8ic  erat,  *'  totum  quod  continetur  in  isto  quatemo,  scilicet  a 
principio  numeri  1,  usque  hie,  scripei  in  Janua,  anno  1409,  de  mense 
Junii,  eztrahendo  ab  uno  quaterao  michi  prestato  per  Fratem  Dio- 
nisium  de  C*^)*  ordinis  Servonim  Sancte  Marie,  qui  ordo 

in  Mediolano  dicitur  '  del  sacho.'  " 

Item,  in  eodem  exemplari,  super  margine  recepte  immediate  lequentis, 
qua  indpit  numenis  47,  scribebatur  sic,  *'  habui  in  Janua  istam  re- 
ceptam  die  primo  Marcii,  1409/* 

47.  Ad  faciendum  optimum  attramentum  pro  scribendo^  pre- 
cipue  libros, — Recipe  bocales  iiii^  optimi  vini  vermigii  vel  albi, 
et  libram  i.  galle  modicum  fracte,  que  ponatur  in  dicto  vino,  et 
stet  in  ipso  per  duodedm  dies,  et  agitetur  omni  die  cum  baculo, 
ultima  rero  die  colletur  bene  subtiliter  per  colatorium  tele  linee ; 
poetea  ponatur  in  vase  mondo  ad  ignem,  et  callefiat  usque  dum 
quaffl  buUiat ;  deinde  deponatur  ab  igne,  et  cum  refidgidatum 
sit,  taliter  quod  sit  tepidum,  ponantur  in  ipso  onzie  iiii"  gummi 
arabici  bene  lucidi  et  clari,  et  agitetur  cum  baculo ;  deinde 
ponator  libra  h  vitrioli  romani,  et  semper  misceatur  cum  baculo, 
donee  bene  incorporentur  omnia  simul,  et  infrigidetur  et  usui 
servetnr.  Et  nota  quod  attramentum  factum  cum  vino  est  bo- 
nma  ad  scribendum  libros  scienciipiim,  que  cum  de  ipso  scripti 
sunt  libri,  non  cadunt  littere,  neque  quasi  raddi  possunt,  nee 
expelli  de  carta,  nee  de  papiro.  Set  si  scripti  sunt  de  attramento, 
sett  mcausto,  facto  de  aqua,  non  est  sic,  que  bene  radi  possunt 
leviter,  et  accidere  potest  quod  littere  de  ipso  scripte  caduce 
nnt. 

VOL.  I.  •  F  3 


70  MANtTSCKIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOUE. 

4  bottles  of  wiue,  or  water,  or  half  of  each. 

1  pound  of  galls  of  xij.  oz.  to  the  pound. 

4  oz.  of  gum  arable. 

6  oz.  of  Roman  yitriol. 

And  if  you  took  equal  parts  of  each,  galls,  gum,  and  yitriol, 
as  much  of  one  as  of  the  other,  by  weight,  it  would  still  be 
good ;  as,  for  instance,  6  oz.  of  each,  which  would  be  sufficient 
for  the  said  4  lbs.  of  wine  or  water,  or  of  wine  and  water  mixed 
as  before. 


OTHER  EXPERIMENTS  NOT  UPON  COLOURS. 

48.  The  preparation  of  Tucia. — ^Take  as  much  as  you  please 
of  Alexandrine  tucia,  pulverize  it  well,  put  it  in  an  iron  ladle, 
and  distemper  it  over  the  fire  until  the  tucia  becomes  red. 
Then  take  vinegar  and  urine,  and  stir  it  in  well  with  a  rod 
until  the  tucia  becomes  of  a  citrine  colour. 

49.  To  make  brass. — Take  thin  plates  of  copper,  clean 
them  well  with  salt,  urine,  and  honey,  and  when  they  become 
red,  and  are  well  cleansed,  take  red  honey,  and  rub  it  over  the 
plates ;  then  sprinkle  powdered  tucia  on  the  honey  and  liquefy 
it  in  a  shell  with  '  (?)  of  holly,  it  will  then  be  very  good 
brass. 

50.  To  write  with  black  on  gold  or  stiver. — Take  burnt  lead 
and  sulphur,  distemper  them  together,  and  write  on  the  gdd 
or  silver ;  then  heat  it  with  fire,  and  the  deared  effect  will  be 
produced. 

51.  To  redden  white  bones. — Distemper  sal  ammoniac  with 
pure  water,  put  any  bones  into  the  water  and  leave  them  for 
2  days.  Add  some  Brazil  wood  raspings,  and  a  little  ley,  and 
leave  them  for  2  days  more.    Then  take  them  out,  and  if  Uiey 

'  The  word  is  illegible  in  the  original. 


EXPBRIMENTA  D£  COLOKIBUS.  71 

Bocales  iiii**  Yini,  vel  aque,  vel  per  medietatem  de  utroque. 

lipra  L  gallarum,  de  onziis  xii.  pro  lipra. 

Onzie  iiii^  gumini  arabid. 

Onzie  tL  Titrioli  romani. 

£t  qui  caperet  gallas,  gummam,  et  yitriolum,  quodlibet  ad 
equale,  videlicet  totidem  de  uno  quotidem  de  alio,  ad  pondus, 
ad  hue  boniim  esset,  videlicet  ut  onzie  vi.  de  quolibet,  quod 
satiB  esset  pro  dictis  libris  iiii^  vini,  seu  aque,  vel  aque  et  vini, 
ut  supra. 


EXPEBIMENTA  DIVERSA  ALIA  QUAM  DE 

COLORIBUS. 

48.  Preparaciotuchie. — Recipe  tucie  alexandrine  quantum- 
via,  bene  pulverizatCi  et  pone  in  ramaiolo  ferreo,  et  distempera 
ad  ignem,  tantum  quod  tucia  rubescat  Postea  accipe  acetum, 
et  urinam  pueri,  et  imbibe,  et  miaoe  cum  baculo,  tantum  quod 
tucia  deveniat  ad  modum  citrini. 

49.  Ad  ottonem  faciendum. — ^Habeas  laminas  eris  subtiles, 
et  purga  bene  cum  sale,  et  urina  pueri,  et  melle,  et  quando 
(aerit  rubeum,  et  bene  purgatum,  accipe  mel  rubeum,  et  unge 
dictas  laminaa,  et  super  mel  asperge  pulverem  tucie^  et  liquefac 
ooncham  bomb  •  •  .  de  aggrefolio,  et  erit  optimum  ot- 
tonum. 

50.  Ad  scrihendum  de  nigra  in  auro  vel  arffendo. — ^Acdpe 
plumbum  ustum,  et  sulphur,  et  distempera  simul,  et  scribe 
super  aurum  vel  argentum,  et  calefac  ad  ignem,  et  feceris  quod 

dictum  est 

51.  Ad  faciendum  o$sa  alba  fieri  rvbea. — Distempera  sal 
armoniacum  in  aqua  pura,  postea  mitte  in  ipsa  aqua  esse  que 
vis,  et  stent  per  duos  dies,  et  postea  adde  de  vendno  raso  cum 
modico  lisuvii,  et  stet  per  duos  dies,  postea  extrahantur  ossa,  et. 


72  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LK  BBQUE. 

are  too  red  put  them  in  water  in  whidi  sal  ammoniac  has  been 
dissolved,  and  if  they  are  not  sufiBciently  red,  do  not  put  them 
into  a  fresh  solution  of  sal  ammoniac  but  replace  them  in  the 
first,  containing  the  Brazil  wood  raspings,  and  add  more  Bra;dl 
wood ;  leave  them  for  some  time,  and  they  will  become  suffi- 
ciently red. 

52.  To  blacken  horns  or  bones  of  animals, — Take  2  pints  of 
rain  water,  3  oz.  of  quicksilver,  and  2  oz.  of  quicklime,  boil 
them  together  for  a  short  time ;  then  take  the  mixture  off  the 
fire,  and  when  it  becomes  tepid,  steep  horn  or  bone  in  it,  and 
it  will  become  black. 

53.  A  medicine  for  silvering  divers  things  in  a  durable 
manner. — Take  Lupins,  boil  them  in  water  until  th^ir  virtue  is 
imparted  to  the  water.  Then  strain  and  boil  until  the  water  is 
reduced  to  the  consistence  of  honey,  and  add  a  quantity  of 
quicksilver  equal  in  weight  to  the  water,  stirring  it  well  imtil 
the  quicksilver  is  no  longer  visible.  With  this  you  may  wash 
wood,  metals,  and  whatever  you  please.  This  will  silver  them, 
and  this  silvering  will  never  separate  or  fall  off. 

54.  To  make  a  durable  silvering, — ^Take  day,  pig*s  blood, 
vine-wood  ashes,  and  quicksilver,  mix  them  well,  then  dry  and 
pulverize  them ;  rub  anything  with  this  powder  and  it  will  be 
silvered. 

55.  To  make  geld  toormSj  or  worms  which  seem  gilt^  for  gild- 
ing anything. — Take  bull's  brains,  put  them  in  a  marble 
vase,  and  leave  them  for  3  weeks,  when  you  will  find  gold- 
making  worms  ;  preserve  them  careAilIy. 

56.  To  make  a  powder  which  shall  light  a  candle  without  fire 
but  with  water.-^Tsike  an  ounce  of  loadstone  and  4  ounces  of 
quicklime.  Put  half  of  the  lime  into  some  strong  pipkin,  then 
add  to  it  the  loadstone,  and  fill  the  pipkin  with  tiie  remainder 
of  the  lime ;  cover  it  well,  and  leave  it  in  a  brick-kiln  for 
9  days,  then  take  it  out  of  the  kiln,  and  when  it  is  cold  uncover 
it  entirely :  then  remove  the  lime  gently,  when  you  wiU  find 
the  loadstone  in  powder ;  keep  it  separately,  and  when  you 
wish  to  light  a  candle  take  some  of  this  powder,  put  it  on  a 


EXFERIMENTA  D£  COLORIBUS.  73 

n  niniis  Bint  mbea,  reponantur  in  alia  aqua  salis  armoniaci. 
£t  si  parum,  non  poAantur  in  aqua  nova  salis  armoniaci,  set  in 
prima  in  qua  prius  fiierant,  in  qua  est  verxinum,  et  addatur  de 
verxino,  et  stent,  et  fient  rubea  ad  sufficienciam. 


52.  Ad  niffrandum  comu  vel  esse  animalis. — ^Accipe  duas 
pintas  aque  pluvialis,  uncias  tres  argenti  vivi,  et  uncias  duas 
calds  Tive,  et  fac  bulire  simid  aliquantulum,  et  depone  ab  igne, 
et  cum  devenerit  ad  tepiditatem,  pone  in  ipso  comu  yel  osse 
aoimalis,  et  denigrabitur. 

53.  Medicina  ad  argentadonem  perpetuam  diversarum  rerum 
materiaiium. — Accipe  lupinos,  et  decoque  in  aqua,  donee  virtus 
eorom  transient  in  aquam.  Postea  cola,  et  fac  bulire  usque 
ad  spisitudinem  mellis,  et  pone  intus  de  mercurio  seu  argento 
?iyo,  ad  pondus  aque,  et  misce  bene,  ita  quod  in  ea  non  appareat 
argentum  vivum,  et  de  ipsa  lignias  ligna,  metalla,  et  alia  que 
vis,  et  erunt  de  argentata,  et  ipsa  de  argentacio  nunquam  sepa- 
rabitur  sen  cadet 

54.  Ad  faciendum  argentadonem  durabilem. — ^Accipe  terram 
tenacem,  sanguinem  porci,  cineres  de  sermento,  et  argentum 
▼ivum^  et  commisceantur  bene,  et  postea  siccentur,  et  pulveri- 
zentur,  et  ex  ipso  pulvere  irica  que  vis,  et  argentabuntur. 

55.  Ad  faciendum  vermes  auri^  vel  qui  videantur  deauraii^ 
pro  deaurando  que  vis. — Accipe  cerebrum  tauri,  et  pone  in  vase 
marmoris,  et  «tet  per  tres  ebdomadas,  et  invenies  intus  vermes 
fSu^ientes  aurum,  et  custodi  bene. 

56.  Ad  faciendum  pulverem  que  candelam  accendat,  absque 
ignCy  set  cum  aqua. — Accipe  calamitem  masculum  onziam  i.,  et 
calcem  vivam  onzias  iiii^,  et  pone  medietatem  dicte  calcis  in 
aliquo  pignatello  forti,  et  postea  pone  in  ipso  dictam  calamittam 
integram,  postea  cooperiri  pignaculum  cum  alia  parte  dicti 
calcis,  et  obtura  bene  ^dictum  pignatellum,  et  pone  per  novem 
dies  in  fomace  in  qua  cocuntur  Uteres.  Postea  leva  dictum 
^n»  de  fomace,  et  cum  fri^dum  sit  apperi  plane,  et  remove 
moderate  dictum  calcem,  donee  inveneris  calamittam  pulveriza- 


74  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BBQUE. 

piece  of  paper  or  on  the  wick  of  a  candle,  and  touch  it  with 
water  or  saliva,  when  the  candle  will  be  lighted.  But  take 
care  you  do  not  keep  it  in  a  damp  or  warm  plaoe.^ 


57.  To  temper  iron  well. — Take  powdered  glass  and  burnt 
goat's  horn  or  stag's  bone,  well  pulyerized,  heat  the  iron  sli^tly, 
and  grease  it  with  mutton  fat  and  sprinkle  with  the  powders 
thkt  part  of  the  iron  which  is  to  be  made  hard.  Then  heat  the 
iron  or  the  part  which  you  wish  to  harden  and  quench  it  in 
water  which  has  been  distilled  from  radish-roots  and  red  earth- 
worms which  are  found  in  damp  places. 


58.  To  temper  iron  so  that  it  will  be  hard  enough  to  cut  pre- 
cious stones, — Heat  the  iron  in  the  fire  to  a  convenient  heat, 
and  extinguish  it  in  the  blood  of  a  goat  in  the  month  of  March. 

59.  To  take  the  impression  of  seals  and  other  things  with 
engraved  or  raised  suifaces. — ^Take  2  parts  of  gypsum  and  1  of 
flour,  mix  them  together  and  make  them  into  a  paste  with  glue 
made  of  hartshorn  and  reduce  them  until  they  become  of  die 
consistence  of  soft  wax.  Then  make  two  small  tablets  of  this 
paste  and  before  they  dry  press  between  them  the  seal  or  image 
or  other  form  which  must  be  wrapped  in  onion  skins.  Then 
take  out  the  seal  or  image,  let  the  tablets  dry,  then  melt  lead 
or  wax  and  pour  it  into  the  mould.  When  cool  remove  it  finom 
the  mould  or  tablets,  and  you  will  have  what  you  desire. 

60.  To  make  a  perfect  glue  for  fixing  hard  bodies^  such  at 
crystal,  glass,  and  gems,  together;  or  for  fixing  wood,  ham,  or 
i^her  thirds  on  to  stones. — ^Take  ceruse  made  from  burnt  bricks, 
that  is  to  say,  the  powder  of  them,  and  finish  by  grinding  it 


*  It  appean  from  a  paitage  In  Becktiuuin*8  InventionSy  vol.  ii.  p.  504, 
that  this  recipe  was  quoted  by  Cardan,  who  ascribed  it  to  one  Marcus 


EXPERIMENTA  DB  COLORIBUS.  75 

fain,  quam  serva  per  se ;  et  dam  vis  lumen  accendere,  accipe 
de  pulvere  dicte  calamite,  et  pone  in  papiro,  sen  licivo  candele, 
ettange  cum  aqua  dictum  licivum,  vel  cum  sputo,  et  accendetur 
candela ;  set  cave  ne  ipeum  pulverem  teneas  in  loco  humido 
nee  calido. 

57.  Ad  temperandumferrum  optime. — ^Accipe  vitrum  pulveri- 
zatum,  et  cornua  yrci,  vel  ossa,  cervi,  usta  et  pulverizata,  et 
calefiic  parum  dictum  ferrum,  et  ipsum  unge  oepo  castrati,  i.e. 
muttonis,  et  asperge  de  dictis  pulveribus  simul  mixtis,  ab  ilia 
parte  ferri  que  expedit  fieri  dura,  et  calefac  ipsum  ferrum^  seu 
partem  illam  ejus  quam  vis  duram  facere,  et  extingue  in  aqua 
distUlata  per  alembicum,  de  radicibus  raffimorum^  et  vermibus 
terrestribus,  seu  bombricibus  rubescentibus^  nascentibus  in  lods 
humidis. 

58.  Ad  temperandum  ferrumy  quod  erit  tarn  durum,  quad  de 
ipio  poterunt  incidi  duri  lapides  preciosi. — Callefac  ferrum  ad 
ignem  ut  convenit,  et  extingue  in  sanguine  irci  libidine  amoris 
inflammati,  id  est  in  marcio  mense. 

59*  Ad  faciendum  fi/tmam  sifftlli,  et  aliarum  rerum  tculptarum 
vd  levatarum,  quas  voles  extrahere, — ^Accipe  partes  duas  gipsi, 
biine  unam,  et  misce,  et  fac  pastam  de  ipsis  cum  cola  cervina, 
et  deduc,  et  confice,  donee  fit  sicut  cera  mollis ;  postea  fac  de 
ipsa  duas  tabuletas,  et,  antequam  siccentur,  stringe  inter  ipsas 
sigillum,  vel  yma^nem,  aut  aliud,  cujus  formam  facere  vis,  et 
sit  involutum  in  pelliculis  ceparum,  et  postea  extrahe  sigillum 
vel  ymaginem,  et  permittas  siccari  dictas  tabuletas,  et  cola 
plumbum  vel  oeram  ut  vis,  et  immitte  in  dicta  forma,  et  dimitte 
frigidari,  et  apperi  formam,  id  est  dictas  tabulas,  et  habebis 
quod  quesivisti. 

60.  Ad  faciendum  coUam  perfedam,  ad  corpora  dura  fir^ 
mamda^  ut  crittallum,  vitrum,  et  gemmae,  invicem,  vel  euper 
petras,  ligna,  comtui^  aut  alia. — Accipe  cerussam  laterum  coc- 
torum,  videlicet  pulverem  ipsorum,  et  confice  subtiliando  super 


Gnecus,  who,  according  to  some  persons,  liTed  in  the  ninth  century,  and, 
aocordiDg  to  others,  in  the  thirteenth. 


76  MANUSCRIPTS  OP  JBHAN  LB  BEGUE. 

finely  on  the  porphyry  slab  with  painter's  liquid  vamish.  With 
this  preparation  you  may  join  anything  you  like,  and  then  dry 
it  in  the  sun.  And  if  you  have  no  liquid  yamish,  take  linseed 
oil  with  a  little  lime,  and  the  said  ceruse,  or  powder  of  bri(^ 
burnt  in  the  furnace,  and  well  triturated  and  pulyerized.^ 

61.  To  temper  iron. — ^Take  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the  juice 
of  radish  roots,  then  take  earth-worms  and  put  them  in  salt  or 
sea-water  for  an  hour  until  they  die,  and  in  dying  they  will  be 
purified  from  their  superfluous  humours.  Then  remove  them 
firom  the  water  without  squeezing  them,  but  only  laying  them 
down  and  shaking  the  water  fi^m  them.  Then  put  them  in  a 
glass  cucurbit,  and  pour  the  radish-juice  on  them  so  as  just  to 
cover  them.  Then  fix  an  alembic  on  the  said  cucurbit,  lute  it, 
place  the  cup  in  the  ashes,  give  it  a  slow  fire,  and  collect  the 
water,  which  will  come  off  clear  as  spring  water.  When  your 
iron  is  properly  heated  quench  it  in  this.  * 

62.  For  the  same  purpose. — Take  the  herb  which  is  called 
^^  famula  *"  and  which  is  like  *^  vidalia,"  but  which  has  leaves 
like  the  "  elder,"  extract  its  juice,  und  when  your  iron  is  pro- 
perly heated  quench  and  temper  it  in  this. 

63.  To  make  a  water  which  corrodes  iron. — Take  1  02.  of 
sal  ammoniac,  1  oz.  of  roche  alum,  1  oz.  of  sublimed  silver,  and 
1  oz.  of  Boman  vitriol,  pound  them  well,  take  a  glazed  earthen 
vase,  pour  mto  it  equal  parts  of  vinegar  and  water,  Aen  throw 
in  the  above-mentioned  articles.  Boil  the  whole  imtil  reduced 
to  half  a  cup  or  a  cup,  apply  it  to  such  parts  of  the  iron  as  you 
may  wish  to  hollow  or  corrode,  and  the  water  will  corrode  them. 

64.  A  water  which  corrodes  iron,  and  takes  away  the  spots  on 
all  tnetals^  and  cleanses  wounds. — ^Take  Roman  vitriol  and  eu- 


^  There  appears  to  be  some  error  in  this  recipe. 

2  Probably  <*  Flammula  ;'*  in  French,  Clematite  flammule ;  in  Italiaiii 
<*  Flamula ;"  in  English,  the  sweet-scented  Clematis.  This  is  rendered 
more  probable  by  the  comparison  of  this  plant  with  another  species  of  Cle- 


EXPEBIMENTA  BE  COLORIBUS.  77 

lapde  porfirioo  cum  vernice  liquida  pictorom,  et  de  hac  confec- 
tione  junge  quod  vis,  et  dimitte  siccari  ad  solem.  £t  si  non 
habes,  aocipe  oleum  lini,  et  aliquantulum  calds^  cum  dicta 
cerrusa,  seu  pulyere  laterum  coctorum  in  fornace,  atritorum,  et 
pulyerizatorum  subtiliter. 

61.  Ad  temperandumferrum. — Recipe  radices  rafani,  extrahe 
succum  ita  quod  de  eo  habeas  satis  ad  quod  vis  fisLcere,  et  accipe 
lombricoB,  aliter  bombricos,  terrestres,  quos  pone  in  aqua  bene 
salita,  Ycl  marina,  per  horam,  donee  moriantur,  et  moriendo 
purgentur  ab  eorum  humoribus  superfluis.  Postea  extrahe 
ipsos  de  aqua  absque  eoe  exprimere,  set  solum  jaciendo,  et  ex- 
cuciendo  aquam,  et  pone  eos  in  cucurbita  vitri,  et  superpone 
dictum  succum  rafani,  ita  quod  succum  superet  eos  aliquantu* 
lum,  et  dicte  cucurbite  superpone  alembicum,  et  luta,  et  loca 
encurbitam  in  cineribus,  et  da  ignem  lentum  et  recoUige  aquam, 
que  exiet  clara  ut  aqua  fontis,  et  in  ipsa  extingue  ferrum  debite 
ignitum. 

62.  Ad  idem. — Accipe  herbam  que  vocatur  famula,  que  est 
ad  modum  vidalie.  Set  scias  quod  habet  folia  ad  modum  sam- 
buci ;  et  de  ipsa  trahe  succum,  in  quo  extingue,  et  tempera, 
ferrum  debite  ignitum  seu  calefiustum  in  igne. 

63.  Ad  faciendum  aquam  que  cavat  ferrum, — ^Accipe  onciam 
i.  salis  armoniaci,  et  ondam  i.  aluminis  roche,  et  ondam  L  de 
argento  sublimato,  et  onciam  L  vitrioli  romani,  et  pista  omnia 
bene,  et  accipe  unum  vas  terre  vitriatum,  et  pone  in  ipso  aquam 
et  acetum,  de  utroque  equaliter,  et  immitte  que  dicta  sunt,  et 
fac  bulire,  donee  devenerit  ad  quantitatem  medii  ziatus,  vel 
unius ;  et,  hiis  factis,  de  ipsa  linias  ferrum,  modo  quo  vis  ipsum 
ca?ere,  seu  radere,  et  radebit  ipsum  dicta  aqua. 

64.  Aqua  que  cavat  ferrum  et  levat  maculas  ab  omnibus  me- 
tattie  et  purgat  pdredinem  vulneris. — ^Accipe  de  vitriolo  romano 


madf ,  the  Clematis  Vitalba,  the  wild  Clematis,  or  common  Virgin's  bower ; 
the  Yitalba  and  Clematite  of  the  Italians ;  La  CMmatite  des  Haies  of  the 
Fren<A. 


78  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JSHAN  LE  BEGT7E. 

phorbia,^  and  distil  them  in  an  alembic.  Then  take  the  water 
whidi  is  distilled  from  them  and  apply  it  to  the  woinid,  and  it 
will  purify  it  and  remove  the  dead  flesh  without  great  pain. 
If  you  write  with  this  on  iron  or  any  other  metal,  the  letters 
will  immediately  be  made  and  bitten  into  it 

65.  To  fix  one  piece  of  brass  to  another. — ^Take  the  scrapings 
of  a  cask,  that  is,  tartar,  bum  it  until  it  no  longer  smokes,  and 
reduce  it  to  powder ;  then  take  a  fourth  part  of  borax,  put  it 
in  a  small  quantity  of  water,  and  stir  it  until  it  is  dissolved ; 
then  add  the  tartar  to  it,  until  it  makes,  as  it  were,  red  bubbles, 
when  you  must  add  a  little  water  to  make  it  more  liquid  :  you 
may  then  use  it  to  fix  anything  you  please,  smearing  the 
article  with  the  said  water  or  mixture.  Then  put  a  few  copper 
filings  and  powdered  borax  into  the  siud  water  and  smear  this 
mixture  as  before.  Then  put  what  you  jcin  into  the  fire,  and 
when  you  see  the  copper  filings  run  or  melt,  at  that  instant 
throw  water  on  the  fire,  take  out  whatever  you  have  soldered, 
and  you  will  find  it  firmly  fixed. 

66.  Jff'  you  wish  to  give  a  gold  colour  to  any  metoL — ^Take 
powdered  red  sulphur  and  red  orpiment,  heat  them  in  a  crucible 
over  the  fire,  stain  your  work  with  this  composition,  and  it  will 
be  of  a  gold  colour. 

67.  To  give  iron  a  golden  colour. — Take  alum  of  Jameni, 
grind  it  with  urine  so  as  to  be  of  the  consistence  of  ointment,  and 
spread  it  wherever  you  like  on  the  plates  of  iron ;  then  heat  it 
over  the  lighted  coals ;  what  you  have  spread  will  become  of  a 
golden  colour. 

68  or  69.  To  preserve  arms  and  other  iron  utensils  from  rust. 
— Anoint  them  with  chicken's  grease. 

70,  71,  72,  73,  or  74.  To  make  fire  whidi  will  bum  under 
watery  and  which  cannot  he  extinguished  with  anything  but  oiL — 
Take  equal  parts  of  quicklime  and  sulphur,  1  oz.  of  wax,  a 

^  Euphorbia,  the  apurge,  of  which  there  are  many  apedes,  one  of  which 
is  mentioned  in  the  Bolognese  MS.,  No.  38,  under  the  name  of  Turtumagli, 
a  derivation  from  the  Latin  Tithymalus,  the  Euphorbia  Enila  (Erba  Latte, 


EXPERIMENTA  DE  COLORIBUS.  79 

et  euforbianOy  et  distilla  per  alembicuni,  et  de  aqua  que  exierit 
pone  in  plaga,  et  expurgabitor,  et  levabit  caraem  mortuam 
absque  dolore  magno,  et  si  de  ipsa  scripseris  litteras  in  ferro> 
vel  alio  metallo,  statim  fient  et  cavabuntur  in  ipso. 

65.  Ad  consolidandum  unum  htonem  cum  oho. — Accipe  rasu- 
ram  Tegetis,  id  est,  tartanun,  et  oombure  donee  fumum  non 
fadat,  et  pulveriza  earn ;  postea  accipe  quartam  partem  borratis, 
quam  mitte  in  modico  aque,  et  misce,  et  agita  earn,  donee 
liquefiat ;  postea  mitte  cum  ea  dictam  rasuram,  donee  faciat  bul- 
las  quasi  rubeas,  postea  mitte  parum  aque,  ut  sit  magis  liquida, 
postea  de  ipsa  operare,  et  consolida  que  vis,  et  unge  eas  de 
ipsa  aqua  seu  mistura ;  postea  mitte  in  ipsa  mistura  aliquan- 
tulum  limature  cupri,  et  aliquantulum  borracis  pulverizate,  et 
de  ipsa  mistura  unge  ubi  supra,  et  que  jonxeris  pone  ad  ignem, 
donee  Yidebis  spargi,  seu  fondi,  linituramdicte  mixture  positam 
super  jonctura  duorum  conjonctorum^  et  subito  proioe  desuper 
de  aqua  in  igne,  et  extrahe  de  igne  ea  que  jonxisti,  quia  con- 
solidata  erunt 

66.  Si  vis  dare  aureum  colarem  alicui  metallo, — Accipe  pul- 
Terem  sulpburis  rubei,  auriplumenti  rubei,  et  bulias  ad  ignem 
in  cruxibulo,  et  de  tali  confectione  opus  tuum  intinge,  et  sus- 
cipiet  aureum  colorem. 

67.  Ad  faciendum  aureum  cohrem  super  ferrum, — Accipe 
alominis  jameni,  et  tere  cum  urina,  ut  ut  quas  unguentum, 
et  linias  ex  ea  lamina  ferrea  ubi  volueris,  et  calefac  super  car- 
bones  ignitoe,  et  fiet  linitura  color  aureus. 

68  vel  69.  Ad  conservandum  arma  et  alia  ferramenta  a 
^bbigine. — Ungantur  asungia  gallinarum. 

70,  71,  72,  73,  vel  74.  Ad  faciendum  ignem  qui  arddrit  sub 
aquaf  nee  poterit  exHngui,  nisi  cum  oho. — Accipe  calcis  vive, 
solphuris  viTi,  ana,  onziam  i.  cera,  parum  olei,  parum  petrolei, 

Ltttaroli;   Euphorbe  k  feuille  de  pin,  La  petite  Esule,  the  Gromwell- 
letved  spurge).    All  the  speciea  are  acrid  and  poisonous. 


I 


so  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEQUE. 

little  oil,  and  a  little  petroleum.  Mix  these  thin^  together, 
smear  them  over  iron  or  wood,  put  this  under  water,  and  it  will 
hum.     If  you  wish  to  extinguish  it,  put  it  in  oil. 

75.  If  you  wish  to  keep  a  fire  for  some  time, — Put  limited 
coals  or  charcoal  under  the  ashes  of  juniper  wood,  and  they  lill 
not  he  extinguished  for  a  long  time. 

76.  To  make  maggots  and  lice  faUfrom  your  head. — Anoint 
yom*  head  with  the  juice  of  rue. 

77.  If  you  wish  to  take  spots  of  oil^  and  so  forth,  out  of 
woolkn  cloth. — ^Distemper  white,  or  gypsum,  or  marble  dust 
ground  with  egg,  lay  it  on  the  spot,  dry  it,  and  then  wash  it 
with  cold  water. 

78.  To  take  stains  out  of  scarlet,  velvet,  Spc, — ^Take  roche 
alum,  with  a  little  common  salt,  and  grind  it,  and  make  it  into 
a  paste  with  yolk  of  egg  and  a  little  vinegar ;  put  this  on  the 
spots  and  dry  it  The  dried  ^'mixture"  may  be  removed  by 
rubbing,  and  the  cloth  will  remain  firee  from  the  spot. 

80.*  For  the  same  purpose. — Take  burnt  tartar  of  wine,  and 
a  little  sulphur,  grind  them  and  make  them  into  a  paste  with 
yolk  of  egg  and  water.  Put  this  on  the  spots,  dry  it,  and  re- 
move it  by  rubbing  and  beating. 

81.  If  you  wish  to  stain  hones,  wood,  planks,  wooden  platters, 
knife-handlest  thread,  and  linen  cloths  green,  put  some  strong 
red  vinegar  into  a  glass  vase  with  brass  filings,  a  little  Roman 
vitriol,  and  roche  alum,  and  boil  all  these  things  together  for 
a  short  time,  and  then  let  them  stand  for  a  few  days.  When 
you  desire  to  stain  anything,  put  it  into  this  mixture,  boil  it  a 
little,  and  it  will  be  of  a  beautiful  and  durable  green  colour. 

82.  If  you  wish  to  make  brass  as  beautiful  as  gold,  take  1  lb. 
of  brass  plates,  \  lb.  of  the  best  tuchia,  melt  them  together  in 
a  crucible  over  the  fire,  add  2  oz.  of  tin,  stir  well,  and  let  the 
mixture  cool.  Then  melt  it  a  second  time,  add  3  oz.  of  tudiia, 
stir  it,  and  again  set  it  aside  to  cool.  Then  melt  it  a  third 
time,  add  3  oz.  more  of  tuchia,  stir  and  cast  it  in  the  form  of 
rods,  strips,  plates,  or  any  other  form,  and  it  will  be  beautiful. 

'  79  b  missing  in  original. 


KXPERIMENTA  D£  COLORIBUS.  81 

et  hec  misce  simul,  et  lignias  de  hoc  femim  vel  lignum^  et 
mittas  sub  aqua  et  ardebit;  et  si  vis  extinguere,  mitte  in 
oleo. 

75.  Si  vis  canservare  ignem  maximum  tempus  ne  eztingatur. — 
Pone  carboneSy  sen  calcicos  accensos,  sub  eineribus  ligni  juniperi, 
et  durabont  diu. 

76.  Ut  lendines  et  pediculi  cadant  de  capite. — ^Unge  caput 
sacco  rate. 

77.  ^t  vis  exircJiere  de  pannis  larmarum  maculas  olei  et 
o/tancm.— Distempera  album,  vel  gessum,  vel  marmor,  tritum 
cum  OYOy  et  inunge  ubi  est  macula,  et  dimitte  dccari,  postea 
lava  cum  aqua  firigida. 

78.  Ad  extrahendum  maculam  de  scarlata^  et  voltUo,  et  talibus. 
— Aocipe  de  alumine  roche,  et  parum  salis  communis,  et  tere, 
et  impastentur  cum  vitello  ovi,  et  pauco  aceti,  et  supeqx)natur 
macule,  et  siccetnr,  et  confricando  expellatur  dictum  bitumen 
siccain,  et  pannus  remanebit  liberatus  a  macula. 

80.  Ad  idem. — ^Acdpe  alumen  fecis,  et  parum  sulphuris,  et 
tridentur  et  impastentur  cum  vitello  ovi  et  aqua«  et  superpo- 
nantor  macule  et  dimittantur  siccari>  et  expellantur  confricando 
et  excuciendo. 

81.  Si  in  colore  viridi  vis  tingere  ossa,  liffna,  tabulas,  seutellas 
hffni,  manubria  cutettorum,  JUum,  et  pannum  lini, — ^Accipe  de 
aceto  rubeo  et  forti  in  vase  vitreo  cum  limatura  eris,  parum 
vitrioli  romani,  et  de  alumine  roche,  et  fac  aliquantulum  bulire 
omnia  simul,  et  permitte  sistare  per  aliquos  dies,  et  cum  vis 
aliqua  tingere,  pone  in  ipsa  mistura^  et  fac  aliquantulum  bulire, 
et  fient  colores  pulcri  viridis  optime  perdurantes. 

82.  Si  vis  facere  httonem  pulcrum  sicut  aurum, — Accipe  la- 
minas  eris  libram  i,  et  optimam  tuchiam  libras  s^  et  mnvl  fonde 
in  igne  cum  cruxibulo,  et  pone  intus  onzias  ii  stagni,  et  misce, 
et  dimitte  firigidari.  Postea  fonde  secundo,  et  pone  intus  de 
tuchia  onzias  iii,  et  misce,  et  dimite  firigidari.  Postea  tercio 
fonde,  et  mitte  in  ipso  onzias  iii  tuchie,  et  misce,  et  jacta  in 
virgps  vel  laminis  platis,  vel  in  qua  forma  vis,  et  erit  pulcher. 

VOL.  I.  O 


82  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BKGUE. 

83.  To  make  a  good  temper  for  iron  utensiU, — Early  in  the 
morning  collect  a  large  quantity  of  celandine  when  it  is  wet  or 
full  of  dew.  Extract  its  juice  by  pounding,  boiling  it  until  one 
third  is  consumed,  and  the  two  parts  remaining  will  be  ex- 
cellent Then  take  the  whole  of  the  herb  Lattaroli^  (?), 
pounded,  and  extract  its  juice.  Distil  this,  if  possible,  and 
sprinkle  some  finely  powdered  antimony  on  the  iron,  heat  the 
iron,  and  quench  it  in  the  distilled  water. 

84.  For  the  same  purpose, — ^Take  the  leafstalks  of  briony, 
pound  them,  and  extract  the  juice.  Distil  this,  and  quench 
the  red-hot  iron  in  the  water  whidi  is  distilled  from  it 

85.  To  mend  broken  vases  of  earth,  stone,  and  marble. — ^Take 
the  white  earth  of  the  fellmongers,  that  is,  chalk,  which  is 
otherwise  called  gersa  [gesso] ;  make  it  into  a  plaster  with 
white  of  egg,  grind  it  well  on  a  stone,  and  use  it' 

86.  ijf  you  unsh  to  attract  glass  touclted  with  some  gum^  as 
iron  is  attracted  by  the  magnet^  take  the  gum  Andrianum,  whidi 
is  found  in  the  large  rocks  near  Bologna  towards  Tuscany,  in 
Monte  Bono,  or  Buono,  and  besmear  a  stick  with  this  gam. 
Touch  the  glass  phials  on  the  table  with  this  stick,  draw  away 
the  stick,  and  the  phials  will  follow  it,  as  iron  follows  the 
magnet. 

87.  If  you  wish  to  turn  black  skins  white,  take  a  mole,  boil 
it,  then  take  the  water  in  which  it  has  boiled,  and  smear  a  black 
horse  with  it,  on  any  part.  The  black  hairs  will  fall  off,  and 
white  hairs  will  grow. 

88.  For  the  same  purpose. — Take  cheese,  heat  it  by  the  fire, 
press  it  strongly  on  the  forehead  of  a  black  horse,  and  it  will 
make  a  star  as  you  know. 

Af^er  the  preceding,  it  was  written  in  the  MS.,  "  AH  the  things  con- 
tained in  this  unbound  book,  namely,  from  number  47  unto  this  page,  I 
wrote  '  in  Janua'  in  the  year  1409,  in  the  month  of  June,  extracting 
them  from  a  book  lent  to  me  bj  brother  Dionysius  de       (jtc)       of 

'  The  Euphorbia  Esula.    See  ante,  note  to  p.  78. 
>  This  recipe  appears  to  be  copied  from  Pliny,  who  says  quicklime 
should  be  used. 


fiXFERIMBNTA  DE  COLORIBUS.  83 

83.  Ad  faciendum  bonam  temperam  ferramentis. — Collige 
summo  mane  bonam  quantitatem  celidonie,  quando  est  plena 
sea  madida  rore,  cujus  succum  pistendo  extrahe,  et  fac  bulire, 
donee  consummata  sit  tertia  pars  ejus ;  due  vero  remanentes 
partes  optime  sunt;  et  accipe  totidem  herbam  lateranniam, 
pista,  et  succum  extrahe,  et  ipsum  distilla  per  alembicum,  si 
fieri  poterit,  et  pulverem  antimonii  triti  pulverLeati  proice  super 
ferrum,  et  calefac  ferrum,  et  extingue  in  dicta  aqua  distillata. 

84.  Ad  idem. — ^Accipe  radicem  de  foliis  brionie,  et  pista,  et 
extrahe  succum,  quem  distilla  per  alembicum,  et  in  aqua  que 
exierit  extingue  ferrum  ignitum. 

85.  Ad  reintegrandum  vasa  terrea,  lapidea,  et  marmoreal 
fracta. — Accipe  terram  albam  pellipariorum,  id  est  cretam,  que 
aliter  gersa  vocatur,  de  qua  fac  emplastrum  cum  albumine  oyif 
et  subtilia  super  lapide  et  utere. 

86.  Si  vis  vitrurn  tactum  de  quadam  ffuma  attrahere,  sicut 
ferrum  attrahitur  a  calamita. — Accipe  gumam  andrianam  que 
mvenitur  in  saxis  maximis  Bononie  versus  Tuscam  in  monte 
Bono  seu  Buono,  et  cum  ipsa  guma  unge  baculam,  et  cum 
ipso  baculo  tange  fialas  vitri  positas  super  mensa,  et  deduc 
baculum  per  mensam,  et  fiale  sequentur  baculum,  sicut  ferrum 
seqniter  calamitam. 

87.  Si  vis  de  pellibtis  nigris  facere  albas. — Accipe  talpam  et 
&c  bulire,  et  ex  ipsa  aqua  in  qua  bulierit  linias  equum  nigrum, 
nbi  vis,  et  cadent  pili  nigri,  et  orientur  albi. 

88.  Ad  idem. — Accipe  caseum  et  calefac  ad  ignem,  et  in 
fronte  equi  nigri  imprime  fortiter,  et  fiet  Stella  sicut  scis. 

Post  predicta  scriptum  erat  in  exemplari,  "  omnia  contenta  in  presenti 
quaterao,  id  est,  a  numcro  47,  usque  hie,  scripsi  in  Janua,  anno 
1409,  de  mense  Junii,  extrahendo  ab  uno  quatemo  prestato  michi 
per  Fmtrem  Dyonisiam  de  («c),  ordinis  Servorum  Sancle 


Q  2 


84  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  L£  BEGUE. 

the  order  of  the  Servants  of  St.  Mary,  which  order,  In  Milan,  it 
called  Del  Sacho;  and  from  that  same  book  I  copied  also  maoj 
experiments  for  making  colours  for  illuminating  books,  which  expe- 
riments I  wrote  in  another  quire  which  precedes  this." 
These  are  the  experiments,  Nos.  1  to  47  inclusive. 
Also  in  the  same  MS.,  in  another  unbound  book  attached  to  the  preced- 
ing, it  was  thus  written :  "  On  Tuesday  the  11th  day  of  Februaiy, 
1410, 1  caused  the  following  to  be  copied  in  Bologna  from  recipes  lent 
to  me  at  that  place  by  Theodore  (sic)  of  Flanders,  an  embroi- 

derer, accustomed  to  work  at  Pavia  during  the  life  of  the  late 
renowned  Duke  of  Milan  ;^  which  recipes  the  said  Theodore  said  he 
had  procured  in  London,  in  England,  from  the  persons  who  work 
with  the  waters  hereinafter  mentioned." 

The  following  recipes  were  brought  from  England  : — 

89.  To  make  black  water. — Take  a  pint  of  water  firom  under 
the  grindstone  on  which  knives  are  ground,'  and  place  it  over 
the  fire,  and  throw  into  it  a  glass  of  TOiegar  and  ii.  oz.  of 
galls  ;  then  take  ^  an  oz.  of  alum  and  an  oz.  of  copperas,  and 
boil  it  until  it  is  reduced  by  one-third,  and  then  let  it  stand  for 
a  day. 

90.  To  make  green  water, — ^Take  an  ounce  of  verdigris,  half 
an  ounce  of  alum,  a  little  sa&on,  and  a  little  parsley ;  grind 
the  whole  well  together,  and  distemper  it  with  one  glass  of 
vinegar ;  then  strain  it  through  a  cloth  into  a  saucer,  and  let  it 
rest  for  a  day. 

91.  To  make  red  toater. — Take  an  ounce  of  rags  or  clippings 
of  scarlet  [cloth],  and  soak  them  in  ajar  in  a  pint  of  strong 
ley ;  then  put  the  jar  over  the  fire,  and  throw  into  it  a  little 
alum  and  gum  arable,  and  make  it  boil  until  it  is  reduced  one- 
half,  and  let  it  rest  for  a  day. 

92.  To  make  tlie  water  for  staining  cloth  of  all  colours^  and 
to  make  it  quite  white. — Take  a  pint  of  strong  ley,  and  put  it  over 
the  fire,  and  throw  into  it  an  ounce  of  alum  and  an  ounce  of 
saltpetre,  and  when  it  is  melted  take  it  off  the  fire  and  use  it 

*  Gian  Galeazzo,  who  died  in  1402. 

s  This  water  probably  contained  iron-dust.     It  is  also  menttooed  in  the 
Bolognese  MS.,  Nos.  134,  338. 


EXPERIMENTA  DB  COLORIBUS.  85 

Marie,  qui  in  Mediolano  dicitur  *  del  Sacho/  et  ab  ipso  quaterno 
copiavi  etiam  multa  experimenta  ad  fadendum  colores  pra  illumi- 
nando  libro,  que  experimeDta  scripsi  super  uno  alio  quatemo  prece- 
denti  (mc)  finis  quatemi."     [Ista  sunt  ezperimenta  que 

seribuntor  a  pre  (sic)  numeri  1  usque  ad  numerum  47]. 

Item  in  eodem  exemplari  in  quodam  alio  quaterno  precedentibus  con* 
tiguo  scribebatur  sic  '*  1410  Die  Martis  xi  Februarii,  feci  oopiari  in 
Bononia,  a  rcceptis  ibi  mihi  prestatis  per  Thedericum  (sic) 

de  Flandria,  rachamatorem  solitum  operari  in  castro  papie,  in  vita 
condam  incliti  ducis  Mediolani,  quas  receptas  idem  Tbedericus 
dixit  habuisse  in  Londonia  in  Anglia,  ab  operariis  infrascriptarum 
aquarum/' 

Ab  Anglia  renerunt  recepte  sequentes : — 

89.  Pour  /aire  Peau  noire, — ^Prenez  une  pinte  de  I'yaue  de 
dessoulz  la  meule  sur  quoy  on  meult  les  couteaulx,  et  la  mettez 
snr  le  feu,  et  gettez  ungToire  de  vin  aigre,  et  ii  onces  de  galles, 
et  prenez  demie  onche  d'alon,  et  une  onche  de  coperose,  et  le 
feitez  tant  boulir,  qu'il  apetice  du  tiers,  et  puis  le  laissier  re- 
poser  un  jour. 

90.  Pour  faxre  TeauB  verte, — Prenez  une  once  de  vert  de 
gris,  et  demie  once  d'alon,  et  un  petit  de  safren,  et  un  petit  de 
persil,  et  broyez  bien  tout  ensemble,  et  puis  le  destrempez  en 
j  voire  de  vin  aigre,  et  puis  le  coulez  parmi  un  drapel  dedens 
une  escuelle,  et  le  laissiez  reposer  i  jour. 

91.  Pour  faire  Teaue  rouge. — Prenez  une  once  de  bourre 
d'escarlate,  ou  tondure,  et  le  destrempez  dedens  une  olle,  en 
une  pinte  de  la  forte  lexive,  et  puis  le  mettez  sur  le  feu,  et 
gettez  dedens  un  po  d'alun,  et  de  gpmme  arabique,  et  le  faites 
tant  boulir  qu*il  apetice  de  la  moitie,  et  puis  le  laissiez  reposer 
on  jour. 

92.  Pour  faire  Peaue  a  ikstaindre  drap  de  toutes  coideurs,  et 

faire  devenir  taut  blanc  — Prenez  une  pinte  de  la  forte  lessive^ 

et  la  mettez  siu*  le  feu,  et  gettez  dedens  une  once  d'alun,  et 

une  once  de  salepetre,  et  quant  il  est  fondu  mettez  le  jus  du 

feu  et  en  ouvrez. 


96  MA^TJSCHIFrS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEGUE. 

Note* — It  seems  also  posnble  to  draw,  with  the  sud  water,  on  eoloored 
woollen  cloths,  auj  letters  and  other  drawings,  the  parts  within  the 
outlines  of  which  only,  where  the  water  has  touched,  will  be  bleached ; 
and  thus  there  will  be  white  letters  and  figures ;  the  ground,  where 
it  has  not  been  touched  by  the  water,  still  retaining  its  own  colour. 

93.  To  make  tJie  red  water. — Take  an  ounce  of  Brazil  in 
powder  and  a  6th  part  of  alun  de  glaoe,  and  make  it  boil  well 
in  a  vessel  of  clear  water  until  it  is  reduced  to  one  half,  and 
then  use  it. 

94.  To  make  the  green  water. — ^Take  an  ounce  of  water  of 
the  leaves  of  the  black  ni^tshade,*  and  j^  an  ounce  of  alum  and 
the  worth  of  a  blanc'  of  safion,  and  ij.  oz.  of  verdigris ;  grind 
all  together  as  well  as  you  caii)  and  distemper  with  a  chopine' 
of  strong  vinegar,  and  then  use  it 

95.  To  make  the  vioUt  water. — Take  an  ounce  of  turnsole 
and  soak  it  in  a  diopioe  of  strong  and  tepid  ley,  and  then 
use  it 

What  is  here  called  turnsole  is  to  be  understood  <'  Bresil.'* 

96.  To  make  the  blue  water, — Take  an  ounce  of  indigo  of 
Bandas,  that  is  to  say,  Baguedel/  and  reduce  it  to  powder,  and 
then  distemper  it  with  J  a  "lot"  *  of  strong  lessive  fondisse,  and 
put  it  on  the  fire ;  and  just  before  it  boils,  throw  into  it  a  6th 
part  of  quicklime,  and  the  same  quantity  of  "meltrac''  (?),aDd 
then  take  it  off  the  fire  and  stir  it  well,  and  when  it  is  tepid  use  it 

Also  in  the  said  MS.,  over  the  recipe  immeiliately  following,  was 
written — *'  At  the  beginning  of  this  are  wanting  several  words  which 
had  been  cut  off,  as  appeared  when  I  caused  this  to  be  copied  from 
the  MS. ;  but  I  think  it  is  for  making  a  water  of  an  azure  oolonr,  or 
a  blue  or  indigo  water." 

97.  Take  the  worth  of  a  blanc  of  quicklime,  and  the  same 
quantity  of  calcined  lees  of  wine,  and  of  calx  of  tin,  and  some 
^^creeres"  of  indigo,  and  boil  all  together  in  two  lots  of  clear. 

'  Morelle.    The  herba  Morella,  Solanum  Nigrum,  Black  Nightshade, 
s  A  blanc  was  equivalent  to  5  deniers. 

"  Chopine,  a  half  pint.    The  old  French  *<  pinte  **  was  equlTalent  to 
1  quart  English. 
^  This  was  the  real  Indigo. 
'  Lot,  a  liquid  measure,  perhaps  what  was  afterwards  called  ''  Litre.'* 


BXPBRIMENTA  DE  COLORIBUS.  87 

'  ADincio.-^Debent  etiani  posse  cum  dicta  aqua  protrahi  in  drapis 
coloricis  lane  quelibet  littere,  et  alie  protractiones,  in  quarum  solis 
continenciis,  quantum  aqua  eadem  tetigerit,  albificatio  fiet,  et  sic 
habebuntur  ibi  protractiones  et  littere  albe,  remanente  campo  in  sno 
colore  ubi  a  qua  ipsa  non  tetigerit. 

98.  Pour  faire  Teaue  rouge,  —Prenez  une  once  de  brezil  en 
poudre,  et  un  dsain  d'alun  de  glace,  et  le  faites  bien  ctdre,  en 
desmerlant  d'yaue  clere,  tant  qu'il  appetice  de  la  moitie,  et 
puiz  en  ouvrez. 

94.  Pofur  faire  Tiaue  verte. — Prenez  une  once  d'eaue  de 
morelle  de  la  feuille,  et  demi  once  d'alun,  et  pour  un  blanc 
de  safiren,  et  ij  onces  de  rert  de  gris,  et  broyez  tout  ensemble 
si  bien  comme  vous  porrez,  et  puis  le  destrempez  d'une  chopine 
de  fort  Yin  aigre,  et  puis  en  oeuvrez. 

95.  Pour  faire  Teaue  violete. — Prenez  une  once  de  tomesel, 

et  le  met  tremper  en  une  chopine  de  forte  lessive  fondisse,  et 

qae  elle  soit  tiede,  et  puis  en  oeuvre. 

NoTA. — Quod  ubi  dicitur  torhesel  vult  dicere  Brcsil. 

96.  Pour  faire  Teaue  perse. — Prenez  une  once  ide  inde  de 
Bandafi,  c'est  a  dire,  Baguedel,  et  le  met  en  pouldre,  et  puis  le 
destrempe  en  demi  lot  de  forte  lessive  fondisse,  et  puis  le  met 
SOT  le  feu,  et  quant  il  voudra  boulir,  gette  dedens  un  sisain  de 
chaulx  vive,  et  autant  de  meltrac,  e  puis  le  met  jus  du  feu,  et 
le  remue  bien,  et  quant  il  est  tede  s'en  cBUvre. 

Item  in  eodem  ezemplari  et  supra  receptam  immediate  sequentem  sic 
erat  scriptum.  *'  Hie,  in  principio,  deficiunt  plura  verba,  que  ab 
exemplari  erant  abscisa,  ut  apparebat,  quando  feci  hoc  oopiari  ab  ipso 
exemplari ;  set  credo  quod  sit  ad  faciendum  aquam  colons  celestini, 
aut  aquam  persam  vel  indicam." 

97.  Pren  pour  un  blanc  de  chaubL  vive,  et  un  blanc  de  cendre 
de  lie  de  vin,  et  un  blanc  de  la  cendre  d'estaing  creeres  de 
Inde,  et  Cedt  tout  boulir  ensemble  en  ij  lotz  d'iaue  clere  une 


88  MANTTSCRIFTS  OF  JBHAN  LE  BEOTJE. 

water  for  an  instant,  and  stir  it  well,  and  then  take  it  off  the 
fire,  and  throw  into  it  a  glass  of  cold  water ;  and  when  it  is 
settled  you  can  use  it. 

Also  in  the  same  MS.,  orer  the  two  paragraphs  following,  it  was  tfaas 
written — '*  I  think  that  the  following  recipes  are  for  making  two 
green  waters,  as  I  collect  from  the  contents,  and  the  names  and 
things  which  are  mentioned  in  them." 

98.  One  oz.  of  tartar  of  white  wine,  1  oz.  of  sal  gem,  1  oz. 
of  alun  de  glace,  i  an  oz.  of  alun  de  plume,  6  esterlios*  of 
verdigris,  1  chopine  of  common  salt. 

99.  1  oz.  of  copperas,  i  an  oz.  of  verdigris,  1  oz.  of  salt- 
petre, i  an  oz.  of  rhubarb. 

Take  a  chopine  of  water  and  put  it  into  a  new  earthen  jar, 
and  ^hen  you  see  that  the  water  be^ns  to  boil  put  in  your 
powder,  and  take  it  off  the  fire  and  stir  it  with  a  skewer,  and 
let  it  cool. 

I  think  these  words  of  the  above  written  paragraph  relate  to  both  the 
articles  marked  98  and  99. 

After  the  aforesaid,  it  was  thus  written  in  the  bef<xe-mentioned 
MS.  :— 

'*  The  true  method  of  working  in  England  with  [coloured]  waten.— 
The  aforesaid  *  Theodore,  from  whom  I  had  the  above- written  redpcs 
for  the  aforesaid  waters,  told  me  that  in  England  the  punters  work 
with  these  waters  upon  closely  woven  cloths,  wetted  with  gum-water 
made  with  gum-arabic,  and  then  dried,  and  afterwards  stretched  oot 
on  the  floor  of  the  so]er,'upon  thick  woollen  and  frieze  cloths ;  and 
the  painters,  walking  with  their  clean  feet  over  the  sud  cloths,  work 
and  paint  upon  them  figures,  stories,  and  other  things.  And  becawe 
these  cloths  lie  stretched  out  on  a  flat  surface,  the  coloured  waters  do 
not  flow  or  spread  in  painting  upcm  them,  but  remain  where  thej  are 
placed,  and  the  watery  moisture  sinks  into  the  woollen  cloth,  which 
absorbs  it ;  and  even  the  touches  of  the  paint-brush  made  with  these 
waters  do  not  spread,  because  the  gum  with  which,  as  ahreadj  men- 

^  Esterlins,  18^  grains,  a  goldsmith's  weight.  According  to  Spelman 
(Gloss,  203)  and  Dufresne  (3,  165),  the  word  was  derived  from  the  Ester- 
lings  or  Easterlings,  as  those  Saxons  were  anciently  called  who  inhabited 
the  district  in  Germany  now  occupied  by  the  Hanse  Towns  and  their  ap- 
pendages, the  earliest  traders  in  Europe.  See  Tomlin's  Law  Dict,^  art. 
Coin, 

s  Who  is  mentioned  before  in  page  84,  previous  to  No.  89. 


IBXPERIMENTA  DB  COLORIBUS.  89 

onde,  et  le  remuer  bien,  et  puis  le  met  jus  du  feu,  et  gette 
dedens  un  godet  d'yaue  froide,  et  quant  elle  sera  rassisse  tu  en 
pnez  ouvrer- 

Item  in  eodem  exemplaii  super  ij  partes  sequentes  sic  erat, ''  credo 
qood  hec  Yerba  sequencia  sint  ad  fadendam  aquas  duas  virides,  ut 
eoin|Mrehendo  per  contentus  yerborum  ac  rerum  in  ipsis  verbis  nomi- 
natanim." 

98.  TJne  once  de  gravelle  de  vin  blanc,  une  once  de  sal 
gemme,  une  once  d'alun  de  glace,  demie  once  d'alun  de  plume, 
vi  esterlins  de  vert  de  gris,  un  estrelin  de  sel  commun. 

99.  Une  once  de  coperose,  demie  once  de  vert  de  gris,  une 
once  de  salpetre,  demie  once  de  rubarbe. 

Prenez  une  chopine  d'yaue  et  la  metez  en  1  pot  de  terre 
neuf,  et  quant  yous  verrez  que  Tiaue  commencera  a  boulir,  si 
metez  vostre  pouldre,  et  ne  Tostez  hors  du  feu,  et  la  remuez  a 
rme  brodbete,  et  laissiez  refroider. 

Credo  quod  ipsa  verba  suprascripti  capituli  serviant  articulis  signatis 
uno  98  alio  99. 

Vero  modum  operandi  in  Anglia  cum  aquis. 

Post  sttpradicta  scriptum  sic  erat  in  pre&to  cxemplari,  **  Antedictus' 
TbedericuSy  a  quo  habui  ante  scriptas  receptas  prescriptarum  aqua- 
rum,  dixit  quod  in  Anglia  operantur  operarii  pictores  cum  ipsis  aquis, 
super  tellis  bene  contextis,  et  belneatis  cum  aqua  gummata  de  gummi 
arabico,  et  siccatis,  et  postea  extensis  super  solario*  per  terram,  super 
drappis  grossis  lanne  et  frixia,  incedentes  cum  pedibus  nitidis  ipsi 
qui  openuitur,  iunt,  inde  per  super  ipsas  telas,  operando  et  depin- 
gendo  super  ipsis  imagines,  historias,  et  alia.  Et  quodque  ipse  telle 
sedent  et  stant  in  planicie  ex  tense,  ut  dictum  est,  et  super  dictis 
dnpis  dicte  aque  colorate  pingendo  non  fluunt,  se  spargentes,  set 
stant  ut  ponuntur,  et  humitidas  aquea  descendit  in  drapo  lanne,  qui 
cam  bibit,  ac  etiam  non  sparguntur  tractus  pincellorum  facti  ex  ipsis 
aquis,  quea  gumacio  tele  facta  ut  dictum  est,  prohibet  sparsionem 


^  De  quo  supra  in  2<^  pag^na  folii  precedentis  ante  numerum  89. 

>  Solario— tbe  sokr^  or  upper  story  of  a  house.  See  Illustrations  of  Do- 
mestic Architecture  from  popular  Medieval  writers.  By  Mr.  Wright. 
Published  in  the  ArchaBolog^cal  Journal,  September,  1844,  p.  218. 


90  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JBHAK  LE  BEOXTE. 

tioned,  the  cloth  is  wetted,  prevents  their  spreading.  And  when  the 
cloths  are  thus  punted,  their  teiture  is  not  thickened  or  darkened 
any  more  than  if  they  had  not  been  punted,  because  the  aforesaid 
watery  colours  hare  not  sufficient  body  to  thicken  the  doth." 

Also  in  the  beginning  of  the  following  quire  in  the  same  MS.  it  was  tims 
written<-<<  On  ThurMlay,  the  I3th  day  of  February,  1410, 1  caused 
the  following  to  be  copied  at  Bologna,  by  the  hand  of  Dom  Johannes 
de  diversis,  from  a  certain  book  of  Magister  Johannes  de  Modena,  a 
painter  living  at  Bologna." 

It  must  also  be  remarked  that  the  articles  which  follow,  namely,  from 
the  article  100  to  the  article  116  inclusive,  were  in  the  book  from 
which  I,  John  I^e  Begue,  copied,  as  has  been  already  said,  the 
present  articles ;  and  that  this  book  was  written  in  the  Italian  Isn* 
guage ;  and  as  I  did  not  understand  that  language,  I  caused  it  to  be 
translated  into  Latin  by  a  certain  friend  of  mine,  who  was  skilled  in 
both  languages. 

100.  To  make  lake, — ^Take  ashes  of  oak,  and  boil  them  in  a 
boiler  full  of  water,  namely,  in  one  containing  6  small  cups  of 
water j  and  one  parasis,  i.  e.  a  large  [saucer  or]  basin  Aill  of  the 
ashes,  and  boil  it  until  it  is  reduced  to  three  cups.  Then  let 
it  settle,  and  when  it  is  clear,  pour  it  into  a  glazed  earAen 
basin ;  then  take  a  woollen  cloth,  and  strain  the  said  water, 
and  when  it  is  strained  it  will  be  a  ley.  Put  into  the  said  ley 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  the  clippings,  that  is,  cuttings  of  scarlet 
doth  of  rubeum  de  grana,  to  be  perfectly  covered  by  the  ley. 
Then  put  it  into  a  glazed  earthen  jar,  and  let  it  rest  for  twelve 
hours.  Next  take  that  ley,  together  with  the  dippings,  and 
put  it  into  a  glazed  earthen  pipkin,  and  set  it  by  the  fire,  and 
let  it  simmer  gently  for  an  hour.  After  that  try  it,  by  putting 
it  on  your  nail,  and  if  it  stands  up  well  on  your  n«dl,  it  is 
done ;  then  remove  it  from  the  fire  and  strain  it  through  a 
thick  woollen  cloth.  You  must  then  have  a  new  glazed 
earthen  pot,  and  pour  into  it  what  was  strained  throu^  the 
said  cloth ;  add  to  it  vi  oz.  of  roche  alum,  and  stir  it  together 
until  it  is  dissolved.  Then  take  a  spoon  and  skim  off  all  the 
froth  that  forms  over  the  top  of  it,  and  throw  away  this  scum, 
for  it  is  not  good.  But  the  other  part  is  good,  and  should  be 
put  into  a  glazed  earthen  vase,  and  suffered  to  stand  until  it 


EXPEBIMEMTA  D£  COLOKIBUS.  91 

ipsam  tractuum  pSncellorain ;  et  cum  telle  ipse  operate  sunt,  tamen 
raritas  ipsaram  non  est  inspisata,  nee  ob  fuscata,  plus  quam  si  non 
picte  fuissent,  quia  aquei  colores  suprascripti  non  habcnt  tantum 
corpus,  quod  possent  ins|Ncare  raritatem  telle." 
Item  in  principio  quatemi  sequentis  in  eodem  exemplari  sicut  erat 
scriptum,  **  1410,  die  Jo  vis  xiii*  Februarii,  feci  copiari  que  se- 
quuntur  in  Bononia,  de  manu  domini  Johannis  de  diversis,  a  quodam 
libello  ma^tri  Johannis  de  Modena,  pictoris  babitantis  iu  Bonoma.*' 

£t  aotem  sciendum,  quod  articuli  qui  sequuntur,  scilicet  ab  articulo  100 
usque  ad  articulum  116  inclusiye,  erant  in  libro  a  quo  ego,  Johannes 
le  Begue,  presencium  articulorum,  ut  supra  dictum  est,  in  ytalioo 
sermone  oonscripsi,  quem  sermonem,  cum  non  intelligerem,  Feci  per 
quemdam  amioum  meum,  utriusque  lingue  peri  turn,  in  latinum  vertfi, 
eo  qui  sequitur  modo. 


100.  Ad  faciendum  lacha. — Ad  facieDdum  lacha,  accipe 
cinerem  de  quercu,  et  fac  bulire  in  una  patella  plena  aque, 
videlicet  quod  sint  intua  sex  cassete  aque,  et  una  parasis  de 
dicta  dnere,  videlicet  una  magna  scutella,  et  fac  tantum  bullire 
quod  revemant  ad  tres  cassetas  tantum  modo.  Postea  sine 
clarificare,  et,  quando  est  clarificata,  ponas  in  una  patella  de 
terra  yitreata ;  postea  habeas  pannum  de  lanna,  et  per  ipsum 
&c  colare  dictam  aquam,  et,  cum  fuerit  clarefacta,  turn  erit 
lessivium;  ponas  in  dicto  lessivio  tantum  cimature,  videlicet 
burre  de  panno  scarlato  rubeo  in  grana,  quod  super  habundet 
aliqualiter  lessivium  dictam  cimaturam.  Postea  ponas  totum 
iQ  uno  vase  de  terra  vitriato,  et  sine  morari  intus  per  xij  boras. 
Postea  capias  illud  lessivium  una  cum  cimatura,  et  ponas  in 
una  oUa  de  terra  vitreata,  quam  pones  juxta  ignem,  et  &c 
bulire  paulatim  per  unam  horam.  Et  postea  experimentes,  et 
ponas  supra  unguem,  et  si  teneat  se  super  unguem,  tunc  est 
coctum,  et  hoc  &cto  amovebis  ab  igne,  et  fac  colorare  per 
pannum  grossum  de  lana.  Postea  habebis  unum  potum  de 
terra  vitreatum  novum,  et  ponas  intus  illud  quod  colaverit  per 
dictum  p^n?^i^TiB,  et  accipe  vi  oncias  de  alumine  de  Roch,  et 
ponas  intus,  et  misce  ad  invicem,  usque  quo  liquefacerit. 
Postea  accipe    unum  coclearium,   et  collige   tantum    illam 


92  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEGUE. 

has  become  somewhat  dry,  when  it  must  be  formed  into  small 
grainsy  and  be  put  in  the  sun. 


10 J.  To  Tnahe  verzino  for  painting  on  diver. — ^To  make 
verzino  for  painting  on  silver  or  tin-foil,  so  that  the  brilliancy 
of  the  silver  or  tin  may  shine  and  appear  throng  it,  pat  a 
piece  of  white  lime  about  the  size  of  an  egg  into  water  to  dis- 
solve, and  let  it  stand  in  the  water  for  three  days  and  three 
nights.  Then  rasp  or  scrape  verzino,  and  add  it  to  the  lime- 
water,  and  let  it  stand  for  an  hour ;  then  put  it  on  the  fire  in  a 
small  jar,  and  let  it  boil  until,  when  you  put  it  upon  your  nail, 
it  remains  upon  it.  Then  take  isinglass,  or,  as  some  say,  tur- 
pentine, a  piece  about  the  size  of  a  bean,  and  put  into  it,  and 
remove  it  from  the  fire.  Take  a  little  roche  alum,  which  you 
must  stick  in  the  end  of  a  small  stick  and  tie  it  there,  and  dip 
it  into  the  said  mixture,  and  let  it  remain  there  until  you  see 
that  it  is  dissolved.  Then  take  a  strainer,  and  stndn  or  filter 
the  water  through  it 


102.  To  make  [a  liquid]  for  dyeing. — Take  the  whites  of  six 
eggs,  and  put  tiiem  in  a  glazed  basin,  and  break  or  beat  them 
well  with  a  sponge.  Then  take  an  ounce  of  verzino  and  scrape 
it,  and  add  it  to  this  white  of  egg,  and  let  it  remsun  in  it  for 
three  days.  Then  take  a  little  roche  alum  and  scrape  into  it,  and 
set  it  to  strain  or  filter  through  a  strainer.  Tlien  place  it  in  the 
sun,  and  let  it  stand  until  it  dries.  Temper  it  with  a  little 
weak  gum,  that  is,  gum-water,  made  with  gum  arable,  having 
but  little  gum  in  it,  on  account  of  the  viscosity  of  the  white  of 
egg,  which  is  sufiicient  for  it. 

103.  To  make  gesso  sottile. — Take  fine  gesso  sifted,  that  is 
passed  through  a  sieve,  and  put  it  into  water  to  dissolve,  and 
change  the  water  every  day,  and  stir  it  together  every  day,  and 


BXPEBIMENTA  DE  COLORIBUS,  93 

spumain  que  veniet  desuper,  et  illud  quod  rexnanet  desuper 
separesy  quod  non  est  bonum.  Alterum  yero  est  bonum,  et 
ipsum  ponas  in  uno  vaso  de  terra  yitreato^  et  sinas  stare  intus 
usque  quo  aliqualiter  desiccetur^  et,  quando  desiccatum  fuerit, 
fac  de  ipso  panra  grana,  et  ponas  ad  solem. 

101.  Ad  faciendum  verzin  super  argento  ponendo. — ^Ad  facien- 
dmn  verzin  super  argento  vel  stagno  verberato,  ponendo  taliter 
qnod  splendor  argenti  et  stagni  splendeat  et  lucescat,  acdpe 
calcem  albam  tantum,  quantum  est  unum  ovum,  et  ponas  in 
aqna  ad  liquefadendum,  et  sine  stare  in  dicta  aqua  per  tres 
dies  et  tres  noctes.  Postea  habeas  feltrum^  et  per  ipsum  cola 
dictam  aquam.  Postea  ratices  sive  radas  verzin,  et  ponas  in 
dicta  aqua  de  calce,  etsine  stare  intus  per  unam  horam,  postea 
ponas  super  ignem  in  una  parva  oUa,  et  sinas  tantum  bulire, 
quod  si  posueris  super  unguem,  ibi  remaneat  Postea  habeas 
de  cola  piscium,  et  aliqui  volunt  dicere  de  Trementina,  tantum 
quantum  unum  granum  fabe,  et  pone  intus  et  removeas  ab 
igne,  et  habeas  parumper  de  alumine  de  roch,  quod  ponas  in 
sununitate  unius  parvi  baculi,  et  liges  ipsum,  et  emerge  in 
dicta  aqua  commixtionata,  et  sine  stare  usquequo  videris  esse 
liquefactum.  Postea  habeas  unam  stamineam,  et  per  ipsam 
fac  penetrare  sive  colare  dictam  aquam. 

102.  Ad  faciendum  pro  tingendo. — ^Accipe  clanim  sex  ovo- 
mrn,  et  ponas  in  ima  scutella  vitreata  et  deducas^  sive  per- 
cnssias,  bene  cum  una  spungia.  Postea  habeas  unam  onciam 
de  verzin,  et  ratices,  et  ponas  in  isto  claro  ovorum,  et  sinas 
stare  intus  per  tres  dies.  Postea  habeas  aliquantum  de 
almnine  de  roch,  et  ratices  desuper,  et  pone  ad  colandum,  sive 
penetrandum,  in  tma  staminea.  Postea  ponas  ad  solem,  et 
sine  stare  tantum  quod  sit  siccum.  Postea  tempera  ipsum 
cum  aliquantum  de  gumma  debili,  id  est  de  aqua  gommata  de 
gummi  arabico,  que  parum  gumme  in  se  habet,  causa  viscosi- 
tatis  clan  ovi  jam  impositi,  que  sufficit. 

103.  Ad  faciendum  jfeseum  subtile. — Accipe  de  gesso  subtili 
sedassato,  id  est,  penetrate  per  aliquam  stamineam,  et  pone  in 
aqoa  ad  liquefaciendum,  et  cotidie  renoves  aquam,  et  cothidie 


94  MAXUBCKIFTS  OF  JSHAM  LE  BEOUE. 

do  this  for  a  month.  Then  strain  or  filter  off  the  water,  and 
take  the  part  that  remains  behind  and  put  it  into  a  fresh  Tase, 
in  which  you  must  let  it  remain  till  it  has  settled  properly ; 
then  make  it  into  a  cake,  and  let  it  dry. 

104.  To  lay  humUhed  gold  upon  paper. — ^Take  gesso  sottile 
and  grind  it  on  a  stone  with  water.  Then  let  it  dry,  and  when 
it  is  dry  take  some  glue,  not  very  strong,  and  mix  with  it,  and 
add  a  little  minium  and  ceruse — i.e.  blanchet — and  lay  the 
gesso  on  the  paper,  and  let  it  dry.  Then  scrape  it,  and  lay 
over  it  Armenian  bole  well  groimd  with  white  of  egg,  and  when 
it  is  dry,  lay  gold  upon  it  with  white  of  egg,  and  burnish  it  in 
proper  time. 

105.  To  lay  fine  gold  upon  giU  tin. — ^Take  white  of  egg,  and 
whip  or  beat  it  well  with  a  sponge^  with  which  wet  also  the  tin, 
but  the  sponge  must  not  be  too  wet  Then  take  fine  gold,  and 
lay  it  on  the  tin,  and  let  it  stand  until  it  is  fit  to  burnish. 

106.  To  ^nake  a  mordant  with  garlic. — ^Take  garlic,  and 
pound  or  grind  it  very  fine,  and  strain  or  sift;  it  throng  a  very 
fine  sieve.  Then  take  what  passed  through,  and  put  it  on  a 
stone  with  a  little  minium  and  ceruse,  viz.,  blanchet  and  a  little 
bole,  and  grind  and  mix  all  these  together,  and  let  the  mixture 
stand  till  it  becomes  taoky. 

107.  To  make  a  mordant  which  wiU  not  be  affected  by  the 
weather. — Take  a  little  minium  and  ceruse,  viz.,  blanchet,  ako 
verdigris,  bole,  and  ochre,  and  grind  all  together  with  water, 
and  let  them  dry  until  the  water  is  completely  evaporated. 
Then  take  what  remains  and  grind  it  with  oil  and  linseed,  and 
add  a  little  liquid  varnish  to  it,  and  a  little  gold  size,  and 
grind  all  these,  things  well  together,  and  apply  the  mordant, 
and  when  you  have  applied  it  lay  on  the  gold. 

108.  To  make  lake, — ^Take  verzino  and  rasp  it  with  glass, 
and  take  travertine  rasped  to  powder,  and  a  little  roche  alum, 
and  grind  it,  and  soak  all  tliese  things  in  a  ley,  and  let  them 


SXPERIMENTA  BE  COLORIBXJS.  95 

commisceas  ad  inyicem,  et  in  tali  statu  sine  morari  usque  ad 
unum  mensem ;  postea  cola  sive  penetra  aquam,  et  abstrahe 
iUud  quod  remanserit,  et  ponas  in  uno  vase  novo,  ubi  sinas 
morari  usque  quo  fuerit  bene  repausatum,  postea  fauc  panem^ 
et  sine  accari. 

104.  Ad  panendum  aurum  bomitum  in  carta. — Accipe  ges- 
sum  subtile,  et  tere  super  petra  cum  aqua.  Postea  sine  sic- 
cari,  et  quando  erit  siccum,  habeto  de  cola  non  valde  forti,  et 
extempera  cum  ipso  et  pone  aliquantulum  de  minio,  et  de 
ceruza,  videlioet  blanchet,  et  pone  istud  gessum  super  carta, 
et  «ne  siccari.  Postea  radas  et  ponas  super  bolarminum,  bene 
tritum  cum  claro  ovi,  et  quando  est  siccum,  pone  super  aurum 
cum  claro  oyI.    Postea  bomisce  quando  tempus  est 

105.  Ad  ponendum  aurum  Jinum  super  ttagno  aurato.-^ 
Aodpe  darum  ovi,  et  deducas  sive  percutias  bene  cum  spungia, 
et  balne  stagnum  de  dicta  aqua  cum  spungia,  et  non  valde ; 
postea  accipias  aurum  finum,  et  vade  ponendo  super  stanno,  et 
sinas  tantum  quod  sit  ydoneum  ad  bomiendum. 

106.  Ad  faciendum  marderUem  de  ako. — Accipe  de  aleo,  et 
pista,  sive  tere,  bene  nitide,  et  cola,  sive  penetra,  bene  nitide 
per  unam  pessiam.  Postea  collige  illud  quod  penetraverit,  et 
ponas  supra  petra  cum  aliquantum  de  minio,  et  de  cerusa, 
videlicet  Blanchet,  et  aliquantum  de  bolo,  et  omnia  ista  tere  et 
commisoe  ad  invicem,  et  sine  tantum  quod  efficiatur  conglu« 
tinosus. 

107.  Ad  faciendum  mordeniem  qui  stet  ad  aerem. — Accipe 
parumper  de  minio,  et  cerusa,  videlicet  blanchet,  et  de  ver- 
denuno,  et  de  bolo,  et  de  ocrea,  et  tere  omnia  ista  ad  invicem 
cum  aqua.  Postea  sine  mccari  usquequo  aqua  exiverit  Postea 
aodpe  illud  quod  remanserit,  et  tere  cum  oleo  et  semine  lini, 
et  pone  intus  cum  aliquanto  yemicis  liquide,  et  aliquantum  de 
auratura ;  et  onmia  ista  tere  bene  invicem,  et  ponas  in  opere, 
et  quando  pungit  pone  super  aurum. 

108.  Ad  faciendum  laeha. — Accipe  verzin,  et  ratices  cum 
aliquantum  de  vitreo,  et  accipe  tevertini  raticatum  in  pulvere, 
et  accipe  alume  de  roch,  et  tere.     Et  omnia  ista  pone  ad  lique- 


96  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEQUE. 

Stand  for  a  day.  Then  mix  the  whole  well  together,  and  put 
the  mixture  in  a  new  earthen  jar,  and  make  it  boil  for  a  quarter 
of  an  hour.  Then  take  a  small  bag,  and  pour  the  whole  into 
it,  and  let  it  remain  until  the  moisture  has  passed  or  ran 
through,  and  let  it  fall  into  a  saucer  or  stone  basin. 

109.  To  make  a  yellow  colour* — ^Take  an  ounce  of  orpiment, 
and  an  ounce  of  sulphur  vivum,  and  temper  this  colour  with 
the  milk  of  a  fig-tree,  and  it  is  done. 

110.  To  make  a  green  water. — ^Take  buckthorn  berries,  and 
mix  them  in  the  same  way  as  is  done  with  wine  or  numns  when 
they  are  boiled  in  a  cauldron  to  make  wine,  and  cover  them 
up^  and  let  them  remain  for  six  days.  Tlien  squeeze  them 
into  a  parasis,  viz.,  a  basin  of  glazed  earthenware,  and  add  to 
it  a  little  '  alum,  lest  it  should  be  spoiled.  Proportion  the 
alum  to  the  quantity  of  the  liquid,  and  place  it  in  the  son  to 
dry.  And  when  you  wish  to  use  it  add  a  little  ley  to  it ;  and 
if  you  wish  to  have  a  beautiful  green  take  some  fine  azure  and 
mix  with  this  water ;  and  note,  that  for  this  purpose  azurnim 
de  Alemannia^  provided  it  is  good  and  perfect,  is  better  than 
ultramarine. 

111.  To  make  ultramarine  azure. — ^Take  3  Ibe.  of  lapis 
lazuli,  and  pound  finely  in  a  copper  mortar,  and  afterwards  sift 
it  with  a  sieve  such  as  perfumers  use  when  they  sift  their  per- 
fumes after  baring  pounded  them.  Then  take  3  lbs.  of  tur- 
pentine, and  put  into  a  glazed  earthen  saucer,  and  place  it  on 
the  hot  ashes.  Then  put  into  it  a  littie  olive  oil,  and  when 
you  see  that  it  begins  to  boil  take  it  from  the  fire,  and  imme- 
diately put  in  the  powdered  lapis  lazuli,  littie  by  littie,  stirring 
it  well  with  a  stick,  so  that  the  turpentine  may  be  well  incor- 
porated with  the  said  powder.  Then  keep  the  sauccSr,  with  the 
pastille  thus  made,  for  three  days,  and  the  longer  it  stands 
the  better.  Afterwards  take  another  larger  saucer,  and  put 
the  pastille  into  it,  and  take  some  clean  tepid  water,  and  pour 

'  So  in  original. 


EXPERIMENTA  DE  COLORIBUS.  97 

faciendum  cum  lexWio,  et  sine  morari  per  nnum  diem.  Postea 
misce  onmia  ista  bene,  et  pone  in  una  oUa  de  terra  nova,  et 
fac  bulire  per  quartam  partem  unius  bore.  Postea  babeas 
unum  parvum  succumb  et  pone  intus  omnia  ista,  et  sine  morari 
uaquequo  succus  penetraverit,  sive  colaverit,  et  fac  cadere  in 
una  paraside,  sive  catino,  de  petra. 

109.  Ad  faciendum  colorem  croceum. — Accipe  unam  unciam 
de  orpimento,  et  unam  unciam  de  sulfiire  yivo,  et  distempera 
istum  colorem  cum  lacte  de  figu,  et  est  factum. 

110.  Ad  faciendum  aquam  viridem. — Accipe  grana  de  spino 
cerrino,  et  ammusces  sicut  fit  de  vino  sive  raisinis,  quando  fit 
bullire  in  cura  pro  vino  faciendo,  et  tege  et  sine  morari  usque 
ad  vj  dies.  Postea  premas  in  una  paraside,  videlicet,  in  uno 
catino  de  terra  vitriato,  et  pone  intus  aliquantulum  de  alume  de 

(no),  ne  corrumpatur,  et  ponas  de  dicto  alume  secundum 
qoantitatem  dicti  liquoris,  et  pone  ad  solem,  et  sine  siccari. 
Et  quando  vis  de  ipso  operari,  accipe  aliquantum  liscivii,  et 
mitte  intus ;  et  si  vis  facere  pulcrum  colorem  viridem,  fac  quod 
habeas  pulcrum  azurrum,  et  misce  cum  ista  aqua;  et  sciaa 
quod  ad  istud  negotium  melius  est  azurrum  de  Alemannia, 
quam  ultramarinum,  dum  modo  sit  bonum  in  perfectione. 

111.  Ad  faciendum  azurium  ultramarinum* — Accipe  libras 
tres  lapides  lazuli,  et  pistes  valde  bene  in  uno  mortario  de 
cupro,  et  fac  postea  penetrare  per  unam  stamignam,  qua 
utuntur  aromatarii,  quando  faciunt  penetrare  aromata  post- 
quam  pestaverint  Postea  babeas  libras  tres  de  trementina,  et 
ponas  in  una  scutella  vitreata,  quam  pones  super  cinerem 
caldum.  Postea  pone  intus  aliquantum  de  oleo  olivarum,  et 
si  tu  vides  quod  inceperit  bulire,  removeas  ab  igne,  et  statim 
pone  intus  dictum  pulverem  lapidis  lazulli,  paulatim,  miscendo, 
et  bene  incorporando  cum  uno  baculo,  per  modiun  quod  ilia 
trementina  sit  bene  incorporata  cum  dicto  pulvere.  Postea 
coDserva  dictam  scutellam  cum  dicto  pastillo  taliter  confecto 
per  tres  dies,  et  si  plus  staret,  melius  valeret.    Postea  liabeto 


VOL.  I.  H 


98  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JBHAN  LB  BEGTJE. 

over  the  pastille  as  much  as  would  fill  a  small  saucer  of  the 
size  of  the  saucer  in  which  the  pastille  was  kept,  and  wash  the 
pastille  well  with  your  hands  in  the  water,  and  then  stram  the 
water  through  the  cloth ;  and  having  strained  the  water  from 
the  pastille  in  that  manner  three  times,  keep  it  in  another  larger 
saucer,  for  in  it  you  will  have  the  flower  of  the  azure.  Also 
pour  water  again  over  the  pastiUe  in  quantity  about  three 
saucers'  fiiU,  pouring  it  over  three  times,  one  saucer  fiill  at  a 
time,  and  do  as  you  did  before,  and  you  will  have  good  azare, 
but  not  so  perfect  as  the  first.  Also  pour  water  on  the  pastille 
a  third  time,  and  do  as  you  did  before,  and  you  will  then  ha?e 
another  azure,  yet  not  so  perfect  as  the  first  or  the  second. 


112.  To  mdhe  the  pastiUe  with  which  the  azure  is  prepared,-' 
Take  3  oz.  of  olive  oil,  also  2  oz.  <^  turpentine,  also  i  ot.  of 
liquid  varnish,  also  2  sagii^  of  good  incenSe;  and,  in  my 
opinion,  each  sagium  makes  1  sterling  and  a  half.  After- 
wards  prepare  the  oil  in  the  following  way : — Take  a  glared 
jar,  and  first  put  some  of  the  oil  into  it,  and  next  the  two 
ounces  of  turpentine,  and  place  it  on  a  clear  fire,  and  let  them 
boil  together  for  so  long  as  it  would  take  to  say  a  Paternoster 
and  Ave  Maria.  Then  put  in  the  said  2  sagii  of  incense,  and 
let  them  boil  together  for  as  long  as  it  would  take  to  say  the 
miserere  mei  Deus  twice.  Then  add  the  half  ounce  of  liquid 
varnish,  and  let  them  boil  together  for  as  long  as  it  would 
take  to  say  the  miserere  mei  Deus  twice.  Lastly,  pour  in  the 
remainder  of  the  oil,  and  afterwards  strain  it  through  a  dean 
closely-woven  linen  cloth,  and  preserve  it  in  a  clean  jar. 

118.  To  extract  the  azur^.fivm  the  pastiUe. — ^Put  the  pastille 
into  an  earthen  vase,  and  rub  it  very  well  with  linseed  oil,  and 
afterwards  make  the  said  pastille  into  a  round  cake.    Then 

'  A  Sagium,  or  scrapie,  aocording  to  the  Rieettario,  weighed  24  gniiu. 
The  saggio  mercantile  weighed  24  gnuna. — Ricett.  Fior.,  p.  126. 


KSPERIMENTA  DB  COLORIBUS.  99 

nnam  aliam  scutellam  majorem,  et  in  dicta  pone  dictum  pas- 
tillam,  et  habeas  de  aqua  nitida  et  clara  tepide,  et  in  dicto 
pastillo  pone  quantitatem  unius  parve  scutelle,  que  scutella  sit 
quantitatis  que  erat  prima  scutella,  in  qua  prius  conservasti 
dictum  pastillum,  et  cum  manibus  lava  bene  dictum  pastillum 
in  dicta  aqua,  et  tunc  cola  dictam  aquam  in  dicto  panno,  et 
illam  aquam,  taliter  colatam  de  pastillo,  tribus  yicibus  reseira 
in  una  alia  majori  scutella,  quia  in  ista  tu  habebis  florem  azurii. 
Item  altera  vice  ponas  aquam  in  metipso  pastillo,  in  quantitate 
trium  scutellamm,  ponendo  per  tres  vices,  et  qualibet  vice 
unam  scutellam,  et  fac  sicut  fecisti  prius,  et  habebis  azurum 
bonum,  set  non  tam  perfectum  sicut  primum.  Iterum,  tercia 
vice,  ponas  aquam  in  metipso  pastillo,  et  fac  sicut  fecisti  alteris 
doabus  vicibus,  et  tunc  habebis  alium  azurum,  set  non  erit  in 
perfectione  ricut  primum  nee  secundum. 

112.  Ad  faciendum  pastillum  de  quo  fit  azwrum. — Accipe 
tres  oncias  de  oleo  olivarum,  item  duas  oncias  de  trementina, 
item  dimidiam  ondam  vemicis  liquide,  item  duos  sagios  boni 
iocensi ;  et,  secundum  opinionem  meam,  quodlibet  sagium  facit 
unum  sterlingum  cum  dimidio.  Postea  confice  dictum  oleum 
isto  modo :  in  primis  accipe  unam  oUam  vitriatam,  in  qua  pones 
prius  de  dicto  oleo,  postea  duas  oncias  de  dicta  trementina, 
postea  pones  juxta  ignem  clarum,  et  sine  bulire  ad  invicem, 
tantum  quod  diceretur  semel  pater  noster  et  ave  Maria. 
Postea  pones  dictos  duos  sagios  incensi,  et  dimitte  bullire  in- 
vicem tantum,  quod  bis  diceretur  *^  miserere  met  Deus^  Postea 
pone  dictam  dimidiam  unciam  de  vemice  liquida,  et  sine  bulire 
tantum,  quod  diceretur  bis  miserere  mei  Dens.  Postea  finaliter 
pone  residuum  de  dicto  oleo,  et  postea  cola  per  unum  pannum 
lineum  nitidum  bene  intextum,  et  ponas  in  uno  vaso  nitido. 

113.  Ad  trahendum  azurrum  de  pastillo, — Pone  dictum  pas- 
tillum in  uno  vaso  de  terra,  et  frica  valde  bene  cum  oleo  de 
semine  lini,  et  postea  fac  de  dicto  pastillo  unum  panem  ro« 


h2 


100  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGTJE. 

take  warm  ley,  well  strained  and  clear,  and  pour  it  on  the 
pastille,  and  do  the  same  thing  a  second  and  a  third  time,  and 
thus  you  will  have  three  sorts  of  azure.  Then  remove  the  ley 
as  well  as  you  can,  and  put  it  afresh  into  another  ley,  and 
make  it  boil  slowly  and  gently,  and  skim  it.  Then  let  it 
boil  for  an  hour,  and  remove  it  from  the  fire,  and  pour  off  the 
ley,  and  wash  and  strain  it  well.  Make  every  three  portions 
boil  in  this  way,  and  also  each  by  itself;  and  also^  if  you  wish 
to  strain  it  together  with  the  ley  you  can  do  it. 

114.  To  make  the  pastille  from  which  the  vJtramanne  is 
made. — ^Take  1  lb.  of  lapis  lazuli  and  grind  it  well,  and  take 
three  sagii  of  new  wax.  In  my  opinion  these  sagii  are  equal  to 
1  sterling  and  a  half  each.  Also  three  sa^  of  maslic,  also  one 
sagius  of  coarse  incense,  also  one  ounce  of  the  before-mentioned 
prepared  oil,  and  then  make  a  pastille  in  the  following  manner. 
First  take  the  wax,  and  chew  it  well  with  your  teeth,  and  put 
it  into  a  glazed  jar.  Then  place  it  on  the  fire,  and  let  it  melt. 
Next  add  the  incense,  and  let  it  melt ;  and  then  add  the  mastic, 
and  let  it  boil  slowly  and  gently  for  so  long  as  it  would  take 
you  to  say  the  miserere  met  Deus  once.  Then  add  half  an  ounce 
of  the  oil,  and  let  it  stand  by  the  fire  until  it  boils.  Then  re- 
move it  from  the  fire,  and  keep  stirring  it  till  it  is  cold,  or 
nearly  so,  when  you  must  add  the  powder  of  lapis  lazuli,  and 
stir  it  until  it  becomes  hard.  Then  take  water  that  is  slightly 
warmed,  and  put  the  pastille  into  it,  and  mix  it  until  the  water 
is  well  coloured.  Then  put  it  into  a  parasis  or  basin  of  glazed 
stoneware,  and  the  perfect  azure  will  immediately  sink  to  the 
bottom  of  the  basin,  and  you  must  then  pour  off  the  water  care* 
fully ;  or,  you  may  keep  it,  if  you  wish  to  do  so,  and  then  pour 
off  the  water :  add  cold  water,  and  wash  the  said  azure  well, 
nuxing  it  with  a  stick.  Then  strain  it  through  a  closely- textured 
linen  cloth,  and  pour  off  the  water  and  dry  it,  and  you  will 
thus  have  perfect  azure. 

115.  To  extract  perfect  azure. — First  take  a  phial  of  cold  ley, 
and  put  into  it  one  drachm  of  the  stone  tuzia,  well  ground  with 
the  said  ley,  then  wash  the  azure  in  it,  and  afterwards  wash  it 


EXPERIMENTA  DE  COLOMBTIS.  101 

timdum ;  poBtea  habeas  lessivium  tepidum  bene  colatum  et 
clarum,  et  pone  in  dieto  pastillo,  et  simili  modo  itenim  facies 
bina  et  trina  vice,  et  sic  habebis  de  tribus  maneriebus  azurri. 
Postea  atrahes  lixivium  quam  melius  poteris,  et  de  imo  pone  in 
alio  lexivio,  et  &c  bulire  paulatim  et  plane,  et  schiumabis  [from 
schiumare]  desuper ;  postea  sine  bulire  per  unam  faoram,  et  re- 
trahe  ab  igne,  et  abstrahe  lexirium,  et  lava  bene,  et  similiter  bene 
eolabis,  et  fac  omnibus  tribus  yieibus  ^c  bullire,  et  qualibet  vice 
pro  se ;  et  etiam,  si  velis  colare  una  cum  lessivio,  facere  poteris. 

1 14.  Ad  faciendum  pastillum  de  quo  jit  azurum  ultramarinum. 
— ^Accipe  unam  libram  de  petra  vel  lapide  lazuli,  et  tere  bene, 
et  accipe  tres  sagios  de  cera  nova,  qui  sagii  faciunt,  videre  meo, 
quilibet  unum  sterlingum  cum  dimidio.  Item  tres  sagios  de 
mastich,  item  unum  sagium  large  incensi,  item  unam  onciam 
de  oleo  supradicto  confecto,  et  postea  fit  pastillum  tali  modo. 
Id  primis  aocipe  ceram,  et  mastica  bene  cum  dentibus,  et  pone 
in  una  oUa  vitriata.  Postea  pone  juxta  ignem  et  sine  liquefieri. 
Postea  ponas  dictum  incensum,  et  sine  liquefieri ;  postea  ponas 
dictum  mastich,  et  sine  bullire  paulatim  et  plane,  tantum  quod 
diceretur  semel  ^'  miserere  mei  DeusV  Postea  ponas  dimidiara 
onciam  de  dlcto  oleo,  et  sine  tantum  stare  juxta  ignem  quod 
bnliat  Postea  remove  ab  igne,  et  commisce  tantum  quod  sit 
reirigeratum,  vel  quasi ;  postea  pone  dictum  pulverem  de  lapide 
laznlli,  et  misce  tautum  quod  veniat  dur^ ;  postea  accipe  de 
aqua  parumper  calida,  et  pone  supradictum  pastillum,  et  tantum 
misceas,  quod  aqua  sit  bene  colorata.  Postea  ponas  in  una 
paraside,  aive  eatino,  de  lapide  vitreato,  et  statim  azurrum  per- 
ieetum  submergetur  in  profimdo  cathini ;  postea  diligenter 
abstrahe  aquam,  et,  si  vis  ipsam  reservare,  potes,  et  abstrahe 
dictam  aquam,  et  ponaa  de  aqua  frigida,  et  laves  bene  dictum 
aznmun,  miscendo  bene  cum  uno  ligno.  '  Postea  cola  per 
panum  lineum  bene  intextum,  et  abstrahe  illam  aquam,  et 
siccabis,  et  sic  habebis  azurrum  perfectum. 

115.  Ad  abstrahendum  azurrum  perfectum, — In  primis  accipe 
unam  fiolam  de  lissivio  frigido,  in  qua  pones  intus  unam  drag- 
mam  de  lapide  tuzia  bene  trita  cum  dicto  lixivio,  postea  lavubis 


102  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEQUE. 

with  cold  water,  until  it  remains  pure  and  brilliant,  and  thus 
you  will  have  a  perfect  blue. 

116.  To  obtain  a  blue^  not  quite  so  perfect. — H  yon  like  you 
may  also  make  up  the  pastille  again,  as  before  directed,  except 
that  you  must  not  add  to  it  any  of  the  before-mentioned  lapis 
lazuli,  and  you  must  keep  and  knead  this  second  pastille  as 
before  directed  with  regard  to  the  first,  and  thus  you  will  hate 
a  second  and  a  third  kind  of  azure  not  so  perfect 

Whoever  wishes  to  try  all  these  experiments  must  obsenrc  and  note 
that  the  powids  nentioned  here  must  be  wideratood  as  of  twelve 
ounces  each,  according  to  the  Italian  mode  of  reckoning. 

Also  in  the  said  MS.  it  was  thus  written—"  I  received  the  following 
receipt  at  Venice,  on  Tuesday  the  4th  day  of  May,  1410,  from 
Michelino  di  Vesuccio,  the  most  excellent  painter  among  all  the 
painters  of  the  world/' 

117.  Azure  is  thus  made.— Take  1  lb.  of  lapis  lazuli  and 
grind  it  well  upon  a  porphyry  slab ;  then  wash  it  with  water 
and  dry  it,  and  reduce  it  to  powder.  The  pastille  is  thus 
made  : — ^To  each  pound  of  powdered  lapis  lazuli  take  1  lb.  of 
Greek  pitch,  ij.  oz.  of  liquid  yamish,  j.  oz.  of  mastic  ;  put  into 
a  rough  jar  iij.  oz.  of  good  common  oil,  t.  e.  linseed  or  olive  oil, 
and  make  it  boil ;  then  put  the  mastic  and  varnish  in  powder 
into  the  oil,  and  stir  it  well  with  a  stick,  and  when  you  see  that 
they  are  diBsolved  add  the  Greek  pitch  in  powder,  and  let  it 
boil  a  little,  until  the  whole  is  incorporated.  Hien  strain  it 
through  a  cloth  into  cold  water  and  knead  it  with  your  hands 
greased  with  common  oil,  and  then  incorporate  the  powdered 
lapis  lazuli  very  carefully  upon  a  slab  with  the  pastille,  and  let 
it  stand  for  three  days  with  the  pastille.  Afterwards  extract 
the  azure  from  the  pastille  in  this  way : — Stir  it  about  with  a 
stick  in  water  that  is  a  little  more  than  tepid,  and  keep  it  in  as 
long  as  any  colour  flows  out ;  but  if  you  cannot  extract  the 
colour  put  hotter  water  to  it,  and  so  keep  adding  water  hotter 
and  hotter  by  degrees  until  it  brings  out  the  colour.  Lastly, 
pour  off  the  water  when  it  is  at  the  hottest,  and  having  ex- 
tracted all  the  azure  and  separated  it  from  the  water,  make  a 
very  strong  ley,  and  put  the  azure  into  smooth  vases,  and  pour 


EXPERIMENTA  BE  COLORIBUS.  103 

azurram,  postea  etiam  lavabis  cum  aqua  frigida,  tantum  quod 
remaneat  purum  et  nitiduiny  et  sic  habebis  perfectum  azurrum. 
116.  Ad  habendum  azurrum  non  udeo  perfectum, — Si  vis,  fac 
pastillum  etiam  de  novo,  sicut  dictum  est  de  8uper,  excepto 
quod  tu  Don  debes  ponere  aliquid  de  dicto  lapide  lazullino,  et 
istad  secundum  pastillum  debes  custodire  et  incorporare,  sicut 
dictum  est  de  super  in  primo,  et  sic  habebis  azurrum  in  secimdo 
et  tercio  modo  non  adeo  perfectum. 

Sit  atttem  nooitut,  vel  advertat,  qukximque  habet  omnia  ista  ezperiri, 
quod  lii»«,  de  quibiu  ia  eit  fit  mencioy  intelliganUir  de  duodecim 
onciis  quelibet  libra,  secundum  morem  italicura. 

Item  in  eodem  ezemplari  sic  erat  seriptum,  **  hoc  sequens  ezperimen- 
tum  hujusmodi,  in  Veneciis,  die  martis,  IIII  mail,  anni  1410,  a 
MicfaeliBO  de  Vesudo,  pictore  ezcellentissimo  inter  omnes  pictores 
mundi.'* 

Xn.  Azurrum  dc  fit. — Redpe  libram  unamlapidis  lazuli, 
et  tere  bene  in  lapide  porfirica  Poetea  ablue  ipsum  cum  aqua 
clara,  deinde  desica  et  reduce  ipsum  in  pulverem.  Pastillum 
sic  fit ;  ad  libram  unam  pulveris  lapidis,  pone  libram  unam  picis 
grece,  oncias  ij.  v^nicis  liquide,  one.  i.  mafiticis ;  ponantur  in 
olla  rudi  one.  uj.  olei  communis,  id  est  lini,  vel  olive,  et  boni,  et 
file  bullire,  et  tunc  mastice  et  vemicem  pulverizatam  pone  in 
oleo,  et  beae  moveas  cum  ligna  £t  cum  videas  resoluta,  pone 
piscem  pulverizatam,  et  pennitte  parum  bullire,  donee  omnia 
fiienmt  bene  ineotporata.  Poetea  cola  per  pannum  in  aqua 
fiigida,  et  maaicetur  manibus  oleo  communi,  et  postea  pulver 
lazulli  ineorporetur  super  lapidem  cum  dicto  pastillo,  et  optime, 
et  dimittatur  per  tree  dies  in  dicto  pastillo.  Postea  extrahatur 
azurrum  de  pastillo  hoc  modo ;  misceatur  cum  baculo  in  aqua 
calida,  parum  plusquam  t^pida,  et  taliter  teneatur,  quousque 
aliquid  exiverit  Si  vero  non  exiret,  pooatur  aqua  magis  calida, 
et  aic  gradatim,  mittendo  aquam  calidiorem,  et  nuscendo,  donee 
aliquid  exiverit ;  ultimo  ponatur  aqua  quando  magis  fervet,  et 
extraeto  toto  azurro,  et  aqparato  ab  aqua,  et  sicato,  fiat  lexivium 
fortissimuni,  et  pooatur  azurrum  in  planis  vasis,  et  superius 
ponatur  lexivium,  sicut  nosti,  ut  exeant  immondicii  pastilli,  quo 
purgato,  dulcifica  cum  aqua  clara,  etc 


104  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOUE. 

the  ley  upon  it,  in  order,  as  you  know,  to  get  rid  of  the  im* 
purities  of  the  pastille.  Having  thus  purified  it,  wash  it  with 
clean  water,  &c. 

In  the  year  of  the  Circumcision  of  Christ,  1410,  on  the  2od  day  of 
February,  after  that  Master  Johannes  de  (')  (a  NormsB, 

who  was  residing  in  the  house  of  Master  Petms  de  Verona,  who 
knows  how  to  refine  or  make  ultramarine  azure,  and  does  refine  or 
make  the  said  azure  when  he  wants  it)  had  told  me,  Johannes 
Alcherius,  at  Paris,  the  process  which  is  used  in  making  the  said  ultia- 
marine  azure,  I  noted  down  and  made  the  present  writing,  accordii^ 
to  my  opinion,  and  according  to  the  things  which  I  heard  from  hin, 
and  also  according  to  the  things  which  I  saw  in  divers  treatises  coo- 
ceming  this,  and  as  I  heard  from  divers  otlier  persons. 

118.  To  eleauj  refine^  or  make  ultramarine  azure  with  a 
pastilk ;  or  to  make  it  with  lapis  lazuli  ground  to  powdery  and 
to  purify  the  powder  with  a  pastille. — Pound  and  grind  yery 
fine  and  dry  in  a  copper  mortar  fine  ultramarine  lapis  lazuli, 
which  is  the  better  in  proportion  as  it  is  of  a  deeper  and  more 
brilliant  sky  blue,  namely  when  the  colour  is  not  too  pale  or 
whitish,  and  the  stone  itself  is  not  mixed  with  parts  that  are 
not  of  a  blue  colour,  but  of  a  yellow  or  earthy  and  whitish 
colour.  And  if,  as  it  sometimes  happens,  the  stone  camiot  be 
obtained  in  pieces,  but  the  powder  of  it,  which  the  salesmen  call 
azure,  can  be  obtained,  although  not  refined  or  purified,  take  it 
and  try  whether  it  is  fine,  by  heating  it  in  the  fire  upon  an  iron 
plate.  If  it  does  not  change  its  colour  or  get  dull  it  is  good. 
Then  grind  this  powder  excessively  fine,  upon  a  hard  and  smooth 
stone,  with  clean  water,  in  the  same  way  that  colours  are 
ground.  Then  dry  it,  and  reduce  it  to  powder,  and  make  the 
pastille  for  purifying  the  said  powder  or  azure,  of  the  foUowing 
things,  in  this  manner : — 

Put  mto  a  glazed  earthen  vase,  8  oz.  of  turpentine.  Tbk 
must  be  softened  by  warming,  so  that  it  may  be  stirred  and 
washed ;  and  it  must  be  washed  several  times  with  pure  warm 

water,  stirring  the  water  and  the  turpentine  with  a  stick,  and 

i  _^ . 

*  So  in  original. 


EXPERIMENT  A  DE  COLORIBUS.  105 


Anno  circoncisionis   1411,    die  ij   Februarii,   post   quam    magister 
Johannes  de  i^ic),  Normanus,  commorans  in  domo  magistri 

Petri  de  Verona,  qui  sit  afinare  vel  facere  azumim  ultramarinum,  et 
afinat  diatim,  sen  facit,  cum  expedit,  dixit  mihi  Johanni  Alcherio,  in 
Parisiis,  modum  quo  utitur  aiiniando,  seu  faciendo  ipsum  azurrum, 
notavi,  et  fed  presenfem  scnpturam,  secundum  avisum  meum,  ct 
juxta  eaque  ab  ipso  audivi,  et  juxta  eaque  per  diversas  scriptures 
vidi  de  hoc,  et  a  diversis  aliis  personis  audivi. 


118.  Adpurgandum^  vel  afiiiaiidumy  seu  faciendum^  azurt-um 
ubramarinum  cum  pastillOy  seu  ad  faciendum  illud  de  lapide 
lazuUi^  trito  in  pulvere^  et  purgando  pulverem  cum  pastillo. — 
Pulverizatur  et  teritur  subtilissime  ad  siccum,  in  mortario 
cupri,  lapis  lazulli  ultramarinus  finus,  cujus  bonitatis  est  major, 
quanto  est  magis  celestis  coloris,  et  vivi,  videlicet  quod  non  sit 
nimis  clarus  color  et  albescens,  seu  quod  lapis  ipse  non  sit  im- 
mixtus  de  partibus  non  celestini  colons,  set  crocei,  vel  terrestis, 
et  albescends ;  et  si,  ut  quandoque  accidit,  non  invenitur  lapis, 
et  inveniatur  pulver  de  ipso  factus,  quern  vendentes  appellant 
azurium,  dato  quod  non  sit  afinatus  seu  purgatus,  accipiatur  et 
probetur  si  fit  finum,  ponendo  ipsum  ad  ignem  super  lamina 
fern,  et  si  non  mutat  colorem,  vel  pejorat,  est  bonum ;  deinde 
pulver  illud  teratur  super  lapide  duro,  piano,  bene  subtiliter 
cum  aqua  clara,  ut  teruntur  colores,  postea  siccetur,  et  rediga- 
tur  in  pulverem,  et  fiat  postea  pastillus,  pro  purgando  dictum 
pulverem  seu  azurium,  de  rebus  sequentibus,  hoc  modo. 
Accipiantur  in  vase  terreo  vitreato  uncie  octo  tormentine,  que 
a  vel  sic  intepidetur,  ut  sit  aliquantulum  mollis,  ut  possit  agi- 
tari  lavando  earn,  et  lavetur  pluries  cum  aqua  clara  tepida, 
agitando  aquam  et  tormentinam  simul  cum  baculo,  et  jactando 
aquam,  ita  quod  termentina  fiat  bene  alba,  clara,  et  purgata. 


10$  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOTJE. 

th^n  throwing  away  the  water,  so  that  the  turpenlane  may  be 
bleached,  cleaned,  and  purified.  This  is  my  own  ad?ice, 
although  Master  Johannes  did  not  say  that  it  would  be  better. 
Then  add  to  it  2  oz.  of  pine  resin,  or  Greek  pitch,  and  2  oz.  of 
new  wax,  and  melt  or  liquefy  all  these  things  together  over  the 
fire,  and  mix  them  well,  and  it  will  make  the  pastille,  which 
must  afterwards  be  allowed  to  cool  a  little,  so  that  it  may  be 
just  tepid  and  soft,  and  not  liquid,  but  rather  solid. 

Then  add  viij.,  x.,  or  xij.  oz.  of  the  said  powdered  lapis 
lazuli,  putting  it  in  by  degrees,  and  mixing  the  pastille  and  the 
powder  with  a  stick,  so  that  the  powder  may  be  well  incorpo- 
rated with  the  pastille,  and  let  it  rest  for  about  a  day  and  a 
night  or  longer. 

Then  pour  over  it  a  quantity  of  warm  water  sufficient  to 
cover  the  pastille,  and  let  it  stand  for  a  short  time,  so  that  it 
may  not  be  melted,  but  only  warmed  and  soft;ened  sufficiently 
to  allow  it  to  be  kneaded  and  stirred  with  the  stick.  After- 
wards, if  the  water  has  become  too  cold,  add  more  hot  water, 
which  thus  being  added  to  the  former  becomes  and  also  causes 
the  pastille  to  become  of  a  convenient  heat  It  would  there- 
fore be  more  convenient  in  summer  than  in  winter  on  account 
of  the  heat.  Stir  the  pastille  gently  with  a  stick  or  a  wooden 
spoon,  and  pour  off  the  water,  and  the  azure  that  is  extracted 
with  it,  into  another  glazed  earthen  jar.  And  because  the 
azure  on  account  of  its  weight  sinks  presently  to  the  bottom 
of  the  water,  the  water  must  be  inunediately  poured  off  into 
another  glazed  earthen  jar,  lest  any  yellowish  or  white  and 
earthy  impiuities,  which  are  not  so  heavy  as  the  azure,  and 
which  therefore  do  not  sink  to  the  bottom  so  soon,  should,  per- 
haps, render  the  water  turbid ;  and  if  the  water  should  be  turbid, 
these  impurities  will  sink  to  the  bottom  along  with  the  azure, 
which  it  will  contaminate  by  being  mixed  with  it.  Afterwards 
wash  the  said  pastille  again  several  times  in  the  same  manner 
with  warm  water,  not  allowing  it  to  cool  or  harden,  but  keep- 
ing it  at  a  proper  degree  of  heat  and  softness  ;  always  pouring 
off  the  water  of  each  washing,  together  with  the  azure  which 


BXPEBIMENTA  D£  COLORIBTJS.  107 

quod  advisavi  ego,  dato  quod  ipse  magister  Jobannes  non 
dixerit  erit  melius.  Postea  ponantur  in  ipsa  oncie  due  picis 
rase,  seu  grece,  et  oncie  due  cere  nove,  et  fiindantur  seu 
liquefiant  hec  omnia  simul  ad  ignem,  et  misceantur  bene,  et  iste 
erit  pastillus,  qui  postea  dimittatur  aliquantulum  infrigidari, 
ita  quod  sit  solum  tepidus  et  mollis,  et  non  liquidus,  set  ali- 
quantulum obduratus.  Deinde  ponantur  in  ipso  oncie  yiii% 
vel  X**",  vel  xii^",  dicti  pulveris  lazulli  lapidis,  paulatim  im- 
ponendo,  et  cum  baculo  pastillum  cum  pulvere  miscendo,  ita 
quod  bene  incorporetur  pulver  cum  pastillo ;  postea  dimitatur 
per  circa  diem  et  noctem,  vel  plus,  deinde  ponatur  de  aqua 
calida,  ita  quod  pastillus  cooperiatur,  et  stet  paucum,  ut  efficia- 
tur  non  liquefactus,  sed  tepidus  et  mollis,  ut  possit  cum  baculo 
agitari  et  misceri.  Postea,  si  aqua  erit  nimis  infrigidata,  et 
suponatur  de  alia  calida,  que  sic  fit  alteri  adita  remaneat,  et 
pastillus  cum  ea  ad  tepiditatem  convenientem  reducatur. 
Igitur  melius  fit  hoc  in  estate,  pro  calido,  quam  in  hieme  ;  et 
misceatur  pastillus  cum  baculo,  vel  spatula  ligni,  moderato 
modo,  et  azuirium,  quod  exibit  cum  aqua,  immittatur,  cum  ipsa 
aqua  lavature  sue,  in  alio  vase  terreo  yitriato.  Et  quia  azurium 
subito,  pro  ejus  ponderositate,  descendit  ad  fondum  aque,  est 
dto  poet  ejus  descensum  proficienda  est  aliquo  alio  vase  terreo 
▼itreato,  ne  aliquaUs  turpitude  albescens,  vel  crocea,  et  terres- 
tris,  que  non  est  tam  ponderosa,  ut  azurrium,  et  igitur  nee  tam 
cito  descendit  ad  fimdum,  et  qua  turpedine  forte  ipsa  aqua  es 
aliqualiter  turbida,  si  aliqualiter  ex  ea  turbida  erit,  descendat 
ad  fondum  cum  azurrio,  et  ipsum  deturpet  se  sibi  imnuscendo ; 
et  postea  iterum  relavetur  simili  modo  dictus  pastillus  pluribus 
vidbus  cum  aqua  tepida,  non  dimittendo  ipsum  pastillum  infri- 
gidari  nee  indurari,  set  tenendo  ipsum  in  tepiditate  et  mollicie 
debita,  et  semper  aquam,  ad  quamlibet  lavaturam  cum  azurro 
exeuntem  quem  secum  traxerit  et  dixerit,  mittendo  in  dicto 
vase,  in  qua  prima  missa  erit,  donee  yideatur  quod  azurrium 
indpiat  exire  a  pastille  tanto  minus  bonum,  seu  minus  pulcrum 
in  colore  ejus,  quam  primum,  quod  ex  nimia  differenda  con- 
▼eniat  non  plus  ipsum  ulterius  ex  aliis  lavaturis  exeuntem 


108  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BKGUE. 

comes  off  with  it  and  is  mixed  with  it,  into  the  vase  in  which 
the  first  was  put,  until  you  see  the  azure  come  out  of  the  pas- 
tille so  much  inferior  in  colour  that  on  account  of  the  too  great 
difference  of  colour  it  is  not  proper  to  mix  this  last  with  the 
azure  proceeding  from  the  former  washings,  but  it  should  be  kept 
separate.  You  must  then  put  what  comes  off  with  the  subse- 
quent waters  into  another  vase,  separate  from  the  first,  and 
pour  off  in  a  similar  manner  the  water  of  the  washings  into  the 
same  vase  in  which  you  put  the  water  of  the  former  washings. 
And  afterwards  wash  the  azure  again  secondly  as  many  times 
as  you  were  directed  to  wash  the  first  sort  aforesaid,  namely 
until  the  colour  changes  so  materially  for  the  w^orse,  and  then, 
on  account  of  the  too  great  change  in  the  colour,  let  the  subse- 
quent waters  be  poured  off  into  another  third  vase,  until  the 
whole  pastille  is  washed  in  such  manner  that  all  the  colour 
which  can  be  extracted  from  the  pastille  is  obtained.  There 
will  thus  be  three  sorts  of  azure. 

Next,  pour  off  the  water  of  all  these  different  washings  into 
the  other  vase,  which  contains  the  rest  of  the  water  of  the  said 
washings,  and  let  the  azure,  which  was  thus  made  and  refined, 
dry,  and  keep  it  for  use  in  painting  pictures.  Then  stir  the 
aforesaid  water,  consisting  of  a  mixture  of  all  the  washings  of 
the  three  sorts  of  azure,  well  from  the  bottom  with  a  stick,  so 
as  to  mix  up  the  grounds  of  the  azure  and  the  earthy  parts, 
and  so  that  the  water  may  be  as  turbid  as  possible ;  let  it  stand 
for  a  very,  very  short  time,  and  then  immediately  pour  the 
water  quickly  off,  with  all  the  earthy  impurities  mixed  with  it, 
leaving  in  the  bottom  of  the  vase  any  azure  which  may  sink  to 
the  bottom,  if  there  should  have  been  any  portion  of  it  with  the 
water,  as  there  usually  is  in  this  manner  of  refining  the  azure, 
namely  with  the  water  which  is  poured  off  from  the  three  sorts 
of  azure. 

And  note  that  when  it  is  wished  to  use  the  ultramarine 
azure,  which  is  made  from  the  three  sorts  of  waters  above 
mentioned,  it  must  not  be  ground  upon  a  stone,  as  is  done  with 
sinobrium  and  other  colours,  because  the  grinding  which  it  had 


EXPERIMENTA  D£  COLOBIBUS.  109 

misoere  cum  primo,  set  teneri  separate ;  et  tanc  quod  exibit 
ad  alias  sequentes  lavaturas  pastilli  suprascripti  ponatur  in  alio 
vase,  separatim  a  primo,  et  similiter  mittendo  aquam  dictarum 
lavlituranun  in  dicto  vase,  in  quo  alia  aliarum  lavaturarum 
missa  erit     Et  postea  iterum  secundo  per  tot  vices  lavetur, 
quod  similiter  ut  de  suprascripto  primo  dictum  est,  videatur 
quod  nimis  mutet  colorem  in  minori  pulcritudine ;   et  tunc, 
ab  ipsa  nimia    mutatione  coloris  antedicta,  ponantur  tertio 
sequentes  lavature  in  alio  vase,  donee  pastillus  totus  sit  taliter 
lavatus,  quod  extractum  sit  de  ipso  totum  azurium  quod  ex- 
trahi  poterit ;  et  sic  erunt  tres  sortes  azurii,  de  quibus  dictis 
lavaturis  similiter  iniciatur  aqua  in  predicto  alio  vase,  cum  alia 
aqua  omnium  aliarum  lavaturarum  predictarum,  et  postea  de- 
siccari  permittatur  aziuium,  quod  sic  erit  afinatum  et  factum, 
et  servetur  ad  usum  operum  fiendorum,  et  qua  predicta,  acu- 
mulata  de  omnibus  dictis  lavaturis  dictarum  trium  sortarum 
azmii,  agitetur  fortiter  cum  baculo  usque  ad  fondum,  ut  fecies 
azmii  et  pars   terrestris   commoveatur,    et    turbidetur  aqua 
quantum  poterit ;  deinde  valde  parum  stet,  et  postea  proiciatur 
cito  ipsa  aqua,  cum  tota  turpedine  suprascripta  terrestri  in  ipsa 
immixta,  et  retineatur  in  fundo  vasis  ilia  aliqua  pars  azurii  que 
in  ipso  fondo  erit  descensa,  si  aliqua  pars  adherit,  ut  esse  solet, 
in  talibus  afBnaturiis  azurrii  de  dependenciis,  scilicet  dictarum 
trium  sortarum  azurii ;   et  nota,  quod  cum  dicto  azurrio  ultra* 
marino  dictarum  lavaturarum  ipsarum  trium  sortarum  in  opera 
poDere  volueris,  non  debet  teri  super  lapide,  nee  aliter,  prout 
fit  de  siuobrio  et  aliis  coloribus,  quia  suffisit  de  prima  supra- 
scripta tritione  facta,  et  etiam  quia  azurii  color  fortiter  pejaretur 
et  vastaretur,  sed  debet  sic  ut  est  destempari  cum  aqua  gomata, 
seu  cum  clara  ovi,  vel  cum  cola  liquefacta,  aut  cum  oleo  semi- 
Dum  lini,  prout  volet  operari,  et  pertinebit  operi  fiendo ;  postea 
si  voluerit  lavari  de  alio  azurrio,  accipiatur  totidem  de  tormen- 
tina,  et  pice,  et  cera,  ut  antea  est  dictum,  et  fiat  alter  pastillus, 
et  fiat  ut  priud,  et  tociens  quociens  fieri  voluerit,  semper  re- 
£iciendo  novos  pastillos,  secundum  quantitatem  que  expedit 
volenti   fiBu:ere  et  purgare  azxurium.     Set  credo  quod,  pro 


no  MANUSCBIFTS  OF  JEHAK  LE  BEQITE. 

at  first  id  sufficient  for  it,  and  also  because  the  colonr  of  the 
azure  would  very  likely  be  spoilt  or  deteriorated,  but  it  should 
be  tempered  just  as  it  is  with  gum-water,  or  with  white  of  egg, 
or  melted  glue,  or  with  linseed  oil,  according  to  the  choice*  of 
the  artist  and  the  nature  of  the  work  which  is  to  be  done. 
Afterwards  if  any  more  azure  is  to  be  washed,  the  same  quan- 
tities of  turpentine,  pitch,  and  was^  as  were  mentioned  before 
must  be  taken  and  another  pastille  must  be  made  as  before, 
and  the  same  method  adopted ;  and  this  may  be  done  as  often 
as  is  wished,  always  making  up  new  pastilles,  according  to  the 
quantity  convenient  to  the  person  who  wishes  to  wash  or  refine 
the  azure. 

But  I  think,  that  in  order  to  diminish  the  expense,  the  fonner 
pastille  mi^t  be  cleansed  from  all  the  impurities  which  it  has 
contracted  in  the  operation  for  which  it  was  used,  if  it  is  put 
over  the  fire  to  boil  and  liquefy  in  clear  water,  because  the 
pastille,  being  melted  by  the  heat  of  the  boiling  water,  would 
liquefy  and  float  upon  it  It  should  then  be  stirred  with  a  stick 
or  a  wooden  spoon,  beating  it  up  violentiy  and  quickly  in  the 
water  with  the  stick,  so  that  the  pastille  may  be  well  mixed 
with  the  water  and  that  die  impurities  of  it  inay  be  diaolved 
by  the  water,  and  leave  the  pastille  and  enter  into  the  water, 
and  that  when  tiie  stirring  has  ceased  the  melted  pastille  may 
separate  and  float  upon  the  top  of  the  boiling  water,  entirely 
cleansed  from  all  earthy  and  other  impurities,  which  by  their 
weight  will  sink  to  the  bottom.  If  it  is  afterwards  taken  <^  the 
fire  and  allowed  to  cool,  the  pastille  being  allowed  to  remain  as 
it  is  in  the  said  water,  when  the  water  is  cfAd  and  the  pastille  has 
become  hard,  it  can  be  taken  out  of  the  water,  and  the  water 
with  the  impurities  can  be  thrown  away  ;  and  having  been  thus 
renewed,  it  may  be  used  again  for  the  same  purpose  as  before, 
and  thus  it  would  be  useless  to  incur  any  expense  in  making 
fresh  pastilles;  but  the  labour  of  washing  the  azure  might 
be  repeated  as  often  as  convenient,  until  the  whole  of  the 
washing  necessary  for  the  quantity  of  tiie  azure  has  been  com* 
pleted. 


EXPERIMENTA  BE  COLORIBTJS.  1 1 1 

iaciendo  minorem  expensam,  posset  primus  pastillus  purgari 
ab  onmi  sorde  in  ipso  inserta,  pro  operatione  de  ipso  facta,  si 
poneretur  ad  ignem,  ad  bulliendum  in  aqua  clara,  et  Hquide 
&ciendum ;  quia  cum  ex  caliditate  buUientis  aque  esset  fiisus 
et  liqnidus,  supemataret  ipse  pastillus  in  ipsa  aqua  bullienti ; 
et,  si  agitaretur  cum  baculo  vel  spatula  ligni,  cum  veloci  stre- 
pitu  agitando  cum  ipso  baculo  usque  ad  aquam,  ita  quod  im* 
misceretur  pastillus  cum  aqua,  turpedo  ipsius  dilueretur,  et 
exiret  ab  ipso,  et  intraret  in  aquam ;  et,  cum  cessaretur  a  dicta 
agitacione,  adunaretur  ipse  pastillus  liquefactus,  supernatatando 
in  superfide  dicte  aque  bullientis,  totus  purgatos  ab  omni  sorde 
terrestri,  et  a  quacumque  alia,  que,  ut  ponderosa,  ad  fondum 
descendasset ;  et  postea,  si  levaretur  ab  igne,  et  permitteretur 
infrigidari  sic,  ipso  pastillo  stante  in  dicta  aqua,  cum  fn^datus 
esset  et  durus,  posset  levari  ab  aqua,  et  abici  aqua  cum  sorde, 
et  de  ipso  iterate  refici  opus  prime  de  ipso  factum,  et  sic  non 
expediret  fieri  expensa,  pro  aliis  pastillis  novis  fiendis,  set,  quo- 
ciens  expediret,  posset  opus  predictum  lavacionis  azurii  eodem 
dicto  mode  reiterari  et  refici,  usque  ad  totalem  expedicionem 
lavende  necessarie  quantitatis  azurrii. 


(     112     ) 


OF  THE  MS.  OF  PETRUS  DE  S.  AUDEMAR. 


PRELIMINARY  OBSERVATIONS. 

Thts  MS.  affords  internal  proof  that  Fetrus  de  S. 
Audemar  (Pierre  de  St  Omer  ?)  was  a  native  of  or  a 
resident  in  the  northern  part  of  France.  Many  passages 
in  the  MS.  prove  that  it  is  of  French  origin ;  among 
these  I  may  mention  that  in  which  is  described  the 
Rothomagensian  green,  which  derived  its  name  from 
Bothomagus,  the  Latin  name  for  Rouen  on  the  Seine. 
Madder  also,  which  is  called  in  French  Garance,  is 
mentioned  under  the  term  Warancia,  and  in  No.  201  a 
recipe  is  given  for  making  a  green  colour  after  the 
Norman  manner.  There  are  indications  also  of  some 
of  the  recipes  being  derived  from  English  or  Anglo- 
Saxon  sources,  and  thence  communicated  to  their  fel- 
low-subjects in  Normandy.  In  No.  162  the  English 
name  for  Folium  is  mentioned,  and  in  Nos.  199  and 
201  two  other  English  plants  are  named.  These  last 
recipes  are  to  be  found  in  the  Mappae  Clavicula,  but 
without  the  addition,  in  No.  201,  of  the  words  "ac- 
cording to  the  Normans."  Several  other  recipes  be- 
longing to  this  MS.  are  also  in  the  Clavicula ;  some 
are  found  in  the  1st  book  of  Theophilus,  and  some 
in  the  Sloane  MS.,  No.  1754. 

The  date  of  the  MS.   is  doubtful.      Mr.  Eastlake 
(Materials  for  a  History  of  Fainting  in  Oil,  p.  45)  says 


PETRXTS  DE  S.  AUDEMAR.  1 13 

it  cannot  be  placed  later  than  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
or  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  The  fact  of 
some  of  the  recipes  being  in  the  Clavicula,  which  is 
supposed  to  be  of  the  twelfth  century,  affords  no  evi- 
dence of  the  age  of  the  MS.,  because  some  of  them  are 
comprised  in  the  body  of  the  work,  but  the  greater 
part  are  to  be  found  in  the  very  beginning,  even  before 
the  table  of  contents,  and  these  seem  to  have  been  an 
addition  to  the  original  work.  It  is  by  no  means  im- 
probable that  these  recipes  were  selected  in  both  cases 
from  some  well-known  originals  as  yet  undiscovered. 

The  MS.  contains  the  usual  recipes  for  colours,  for 
ink,  and  for  gilding.  Among  the  colours  we  find  greens 
prepared  in  different  ways  from  copper  and  vegetables ; 
white  from  lead,  black  from  charcoal,  blue  from  silver, 
from  copper,  and  from  flowers.  Ultramarine  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  known  to  our  author.  It  seems 
from  the  description  of  the  mode  of  purifying  the  blue 
pigment  in  No.  168,  that  it  was  a  natural  blue  ore  of 
copper,  the  Azzurro  della  Magna  of  Cennini  (chap.  Ix.), 
which  was  extensively  used  both  before  and  after  the 
introduction  of  ultramarine,  and  which  was  produced 
in  great  abundance  in  the  mines  of  Chessy,  near  Lyons. 
This  mine  was  worked  for  a  long  period,  and  continued 
to  produce  great  quantities  of  the  blue  ores  of  copper. 
It  is  now,  however,  closed.  In  the  year  i  845  I  saw 
many  specimens  of  these  ores  exposed  for  sale  at 
Lyons. 

The  red  pigments  consisted  of  artificial  vermilion, 
red  lead,  which  the  author  calls  "  minium  **  and  "  san- 
daraca,**  and  lake  made  from  the  gum  of  the  ivy.     It 

VOL.  I.  I 


1 14  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAl^  LK  BEGITE. 

will  be  observed  that  the  latter  is  also  called  *^  Sinopis 
de  Mellana." 

The  only  yellow  pigment  is  safiron,  but  the  principal 
use  of  this  colour  appears  to  have  been  in  colooring 
varnishes,  the  yellow  in  old  pictures  being  more  fre- 
quently represented  by  gold. 

Like  Cenniniy  Peter  de  S.  Audemar  teaches  what 
vehicles  should  be  used  with  each  colour^  and  from 
these  instructions  we  learn  that  the  colours  were  ap- 
plied on  walls  in  secco,  tempered  with  egg  or  gum ;  in 
books,  that  is,  miniatures  with  gum  or  egg ;  and  on 
wood  with  oil — thus  affording  certain  proof  of  the  use 
of  oil  in  painting  at  this  period  in  France. 

That  varnish  was  used,  is  incidentally  mentioned  in 
the  recipe  for  making  auripetrum,  which  was  a  varnish 
to  which  a  golden  colour  was  imparted  by  safiron,  and 
which,  when  spread  over  tinfoil,  was  employed  to  imi- 
tate gold.  A  similar  recipe  is  given  in  Eraclius,  and 
another  will  be  found  in  the  Lucca  MS^  which  has 
been  copied  into  the  Glavicula,  a  proof  of  the  extent  to 
which  it  was  used.  A  gold  colour  was  also  given  to 
tin  by  applying  over  it  several  coats  of  gall  (see  No. 
203),  and  also  by  applying  a  solution  of  aloes,  Ko.  206. 
Other  varnishes  are  described  in  Nos.  207,  208,  and 
209 ;  and  it  seems  these  also  must  have  been  highly 
coloured,  because  they  were  to  be  used  like  the  auri- 
petrum, for  colouring  tin  to  imitate  gold,  the  price  of 
which  placed  it  beyond  the  reach  of  all  but  the  rich. 
As  to  the  materials  of  the  varnishes,  one  was  composed 
of  linseed  oil,  resin,  and  vemix^  that  is,  sandarac; 
another  of  linseed  oil  boiled  with  the  inner  bark  of 


PETRUS  D£  8.  ATTDEMAR.  1 15 

the  black  plum,  glassa^  alum,  and  dragons  blood; 
and  the  third  of  the  same  linseed  oil  previously  boiled 
with  the  inner  bark  of  the  black  plum,  resin,  and 
frankincense.  We  must  therefore  suppose  that  three 
different  ingredients  were  used  for  varnishes,  for  it  is  as 
reasonable  to  conclude  from  the  text  that  they  were  all 
synonymous,  as  that  vemix  and  glassa  were  the  same 
in  this  instance,  for  it  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that 
Peter  de  S.  Audemar,  who  must  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  making  these  varnishes,  should  have  used  a  different 
term,  if  any  two  had  been  synonymous. 

It  will  also  be  observed,  that  there  is  no  allusion  in 
this  MS.  to  the  application  of  varnish  upon  colours  or 
pictures,  or  to  any  other  preparation  of  oil,  except 
boiling  it  with  the  inner  bark  of  the  black  plum  (the 
object  of  which,  if  we  may  believe  the  Table  of  Syno- 
nymes,  was  to  give  the  oil  a  yellow  colour)  before  it 
was  mixed  with  the  resins ;  at  the  same  time  there  is 
nothing  to  show  that  this  boiled  oil  was  not  used  in 
painting.  The  fact  of  "liquid  varnish"  being  men- 
tioned in  tlie  recipe  for  Auripetrum,  No.  202,  is  suffi-* 
cient  proof  that  it  was  in  use  at  this  period,  and  that 
the  drying  effect  produced  on  oils  by  boiling  was 
known,  because  sandarac  is  not  soluble  in  raw  oils,  and 
distilled  oils  were  not  used  at  this  period.  The  recipes 
No8*  208  and  209  much  resemble  those  in  the  Paris 
MS.  of  Eraclius,  No.  274. 


i2 


(     116    ) 


HERE  BEGINNETH  THE 

BOOK  OF  MASTER  PETER  OF  ST.  AFDEMAR 

ON  MAKING  COLOURS, 

AND   7IB8T  THX 

INTRODUCTION. 

By  the  assistance  of  God,  of  whom  are  all  things  that 
are  good,  I  will  explain  to  you  (at  whose  request,  as 
you  know,  I  undertook  this  work)  how  to  make  colours 
for  painters  and  illuminators  of  books,  and  the  vehicles 
for  them,  and  other  things  appertaining  thereto,  as 
faithfully  as  I  can  in  the  following  chapters. 


150.  The  way  to  make  a  green  colour  with  salt. — First  hear 
how  to  make  a  green  colour  with  salt: — Stir  some  salt  toge- 
ther in  a  jar  or  in  a  ladle,  and  beat  it,  stirring  it  frequently 
until  it  loses  its  former  colour  and  becomes  dusky — ue.  darkish. 
Then  pound  it,  and,  if  necessary,  pass  it  throu^  a  sieve, 
shaking  it  with  your  hand,  in  the  same  way  that  boys  are 
accustomed  to  shake  dust  in  a  bottle  ;  sift  it  into  a  jar,  or  any 
other  vase  which  will  hold  it,  in  order  that,  if  by  chance  any 
hairs  or  other  impurities  be  mixed  with  it,  they  may  be  sepa- 
rated ;  as  otherwise,  if  it  continue  white,  or  if  any  impurities 
remain  in  it,  the  colour  will  be  dirty.  Afterwards  crush  it 
well,  dry  as  it  is,  upon  a  flat  slab,  either  of  marble  or  wood, 
with  a  smooth  wooden  block  made  for  this  purpose,  or  with  a 
stone.  Then  temper  some  soap  with  wine  or  vinegar.  Vine- 
gar is  made  as  follows. 

151.  How  to  make  vinegar, — Take  good  wine,  or  wine  as 
sour  as  you  can  get  it,  and  put  it  into  a  jar  or  any  other  vase, 


(    "7    ) 


INCIPIT  LIBEB 

MAGISTRI  PETRI  DE  SAKCTO  AUDEMARO 
DE  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS, 

KT  PRIMO 

PROHEMIUM. 

Deo  opitulante,  cujus  sunt  omnia  que  bona  sunt,  tibi, 
dicut  novisti,  cujus  rogatu  hoc  opus  sum  aggressus,  de 
coloribus  pictorum  et  illuminatorum  librorum  faciendis, 
de  temperamentis  que  eorum,  et  de  aliis  hiis  conve- 
nientibusy  quam  fidelius  potere  in  sequentibus  expli- 
cabo. 


150.  De  mode  faciendi  viridem  colorem  de  sale, — Primo  quo 
inodo  ex  sale  fiat  intellige ;  salem  i^tur  commiscens  in  olla 
seu  patella  torribis,  saepius  moyendo,  usque  quo  primum 
colorem  amittat,  et  fuscus  fit,  id  est  subniger.  Deinde  pulve- 
rLsabia,  et,  si  opus  fiierit,  induces  cum  stamino,  et  manu  mo- 
vendo,  aicut  pueri  pulverem  in  catrasia  positum  agitare  solent, 
et  transire  facaes  in  ollam,  vel  in  aliud  quodcumque  vas,  illud 
redpiens  ut  si  forte  pili,  vel  aliae  sordes,  ei  commixtae  fuerint> 
seque  ferentur  alioquin,  si  albus  remanserit,  aut  aliquod  turpe 
in  ipeo  remanserit,  turpis  color  erit.  Postea  super  tabulam 
aejualis  superfidei,  vel  marmoream,  vel  ligneam,  bene  subtiliter 
ita  siccum  conteres  cum  ligno  ad  hoc  parato  equali,  vel  cum 
lapide.  Deinde  savonem  cum  vino  vel  aceto  distemperabis. 
Aoetum  vero  sic  fit 

151.  Qaomodoft  acetum* — Sume  vinum  optimum,  vel  quan- 
tum acrius  habere  potes,  et  in  ollam  positum,  seu  vase  alio. 


1 18  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

and  let  it  stand  for  5  or  8  days,  or  for  as  many  days  as  you 
like,  in  a  vase  covered  with  a  plank  or  a  stone,  and  not  entirely 
closed,  in  order  that  it  may  feel  the  changes  of  the  air,  whidi 
cause  it  to  turn  sour ;  and  let  it  addify  by  expodng  it  to  the 
sun,  or  suspending  it  over  the  fire.  You  can  then  put  it  by, 
and  preserve  it  as  long  as  you  like. 

If  you  have  no  soap,  never  mind ;  yet,  nevertheless,  wet 
plates  of  copper  or  basins,^  cut  into  pieces  or  strips,  all  over 
with  pure  wine,  without  water,  or  else  with  the  vinegar.  After- 
wards spread  salt  well  and  evenly  over  the  metal,  so  that  the 
copper  may  be  entirely  covered,  but  very  thinly  and  eveolyi 
because,  if  it  be  covered  too  thick,  the  colour  will  not  be  good. 
You  must  have  a  vase  prepared  for  the  purpose,  either  of  earth 
or  of  wood,  in  the  bottom  of  which  you  must  pour  a  little  wine 
or  beer,  or  stale  urine,  whidi  is  better  than  fresh,  and  place 
the  copper,  salted  as  before  directed,  inside  the  vase.  But,  in 
order  that  it  may  not  slip  into  the  wine  or  urine,  let  it  be  sup- 
ported by  putting  a  piece  of  wood  over  the  jar,  to  which  the 
said  slips  or  curved  pieces  (if  formed  by  cutting  up  basins  or 
cups)  must  be  suspended  side  by  side,  so  as  not  to  toudi  one 
another.  Then  stop  up  the  mouth  of  the  jar,  lest  any  dung 
should  fall  into  it,  and  put  plenty  of  horse-dung  all  round  it, 
and  imder  it  and  over  it,  and  leave  it  in  that  manner  to  heat  in 
the  dung  for  8  or  9  days,  and  you  wiU  then  find  yoor  salt 
turned  green,  and  of  an  excellent  colour.  The  hotter  the  dung 
is,  the  sooner  it  will  be  done.  You  may,  if  you  like,  wait  for 
17  or  18  days  before  you  uncover  it  and  remote  the  colour. 
And  in  winter  and  summer,  according  as  you  find  the  heat  of 
the  dung  greater  or  less,  you  will  so  time  your  work ;  and  also 
according  to  whether  the  plates  are  made  of  cc^per  or  bm^s, 
as  aforesaid,  knowing  that  if  they  are  of  copper  the  work  will  be 
done — i.e.  the  colour  will  be  made  aooner;  but  if  they  are 
made  of  brass  it  will  be  longer  before  it  is  made.  Heat  aoode- 
rates  the  formation  of  the  colour,  cool  weather  retards  it,  and 

^  When  the  word  '*  basin  *'  is  used  alone,  a  vessel  of  copper  or  brass 
should  be  understood. 


S.  AT7DEMAB0  D£  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  119 

qtiinque,  vel  octo,  yel  quot  volaeris  diebuSy  vase  cooperto  asce 

vel  lapide,  et  non  obturato,  ut  aeris  mutaciones  sentiat,  quas 

acuere  facit,  et  ad  solem,  vel  super  ignem,  suspensum,  acui 

permitte,  et  sic  quantum  diu  volueris  repositum  senrare  poteris. 

Si  autem  saTonem  non  habueris,  non  ait  tibi  cure,  nihilominus 

tamen  ex  vino  puro  absque  aqua,  si  vel  ex  dicto  aceto,  laminas 

cupreas  ex  omni  parte  humectabis,  vel  bacinos  decisos  per 

pecias  sen  laminas.     Et  postea  ex  ipso  sale  asperge  bene  et 

equaliter  per  totum,  ita  ut  cuprum  totum  coopertum  sit,  tamen 

tenuissime  et  equaliter,   quia  si  spissum   fuerit  non  babebit 

optimum  colorem,     Unum  vero  vas  habebis  ad  hoc  paratum, 

vel  ligneum^  vel  fictile,  in  cujus  fundo  pones  parum  vini,  vel 

oervisise,   aut  aceti,  Tel  urinam,   nihilominus  vetustam,  quae 

melior  ad  hoc  probatur,  et  desuper  in  ipso  vase  pones  cuprum, 

sicut  jam  dixi,  salitam.     Sed  ne  labatur  in  vino  vel  urina,  sus- 

tineatur  ligno  superposito,  cui  suspendantur  dictae  kminae  in 

aere,  sive  antem  recte  sint  laminaB,  seu  curvae,  ut  de  de  bacinis, 

vel  patellis  incisis,  sint  juxta  se  alia  post  aliam,  non  se  tangente. 

Postea  08  ipsius  oUe  obtures,  ne  fimus  introcadat,  et  fimum 

equinum  habundanter,  et  sub  vase,  et  in  drcuita,  et  super* 

pones,  et  sic  isto  modo,  in  dicto  fimo  califactum,  octava  vel 

nona  die  salem  viridem  redpies,  et  optimum.     Et  quanto  fer- 

▼encius  callescet  fimus,  tanto  fiat  citius.    Et  tum  nihilominus, 

n  volueris,  usque  ad  xvii.  vel  xviii.  dies  expectabis,  antequam 

diacoperias  vas,  et  recipias  colorem.     Et  in  estate,  et  in  hyeme, 

acat  aenserb  calorem  stercoris  vel  fimi  majorem  vel  minorem, 

ita  tamn  laborem  moderabis ;  et  tarn  de  seneis,  quam  cupreis 

tabulis,  sicut  dixi,  sciens  que  si  cupreas  fuerint,  citius  fiet 

opus — ^L  e.  colorabitur — si  vere  aeneae,  tardius.     Calor  ejus  ac* 

celerat  colorem,  sed  tepiditas  tardat ;  frigiditas  vero  nil  agit ; 

et  notandum  est,  quod  si  dictum  vas  cooperieris  in  fimo  existenti 

in  stabulo  equi,  in  alio  secreto  et  calido  loco,  melius  valet,  et 

opus  acceleratur,  quia  interius  calefit.     Hoc  idem  agere  potes 

in  cumulo  vinciarum,  ad  pressorium  vini.     Hunc  autem  coIo- 


120  MANUSdOPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  B£QXTE« 

cold  stops  it  altogether :  it  must  also  be  remarked,  that  if  the 
vase  is  covered  with  dmig  in  a  horse-stable,  or  in  some  other 
warm  and  close  space,  it  is  better,  and  the  work  will  progress 
more  rapidly,  because  it  is  better  warmed.    The  same  thing 
can  be  done  in  the  heaps  of  grape-skins  by  the  wine-presses. 
You  must  then  scrape  and  shave  off  the  colour  with  a  knife,  (ff 
any  other  instrument,  from  the  aforesaid  plates,  and  if  you  find 
that  any  white  salt  has  remained  mixed  with  the  green  colour, 
you  need  not  be  vexed  at  it,  but  just  pick  it  out  with  a  knife  or 
with  your  hand ;  and  you  must  afterwards  wash  these  tablets 
with  water,  preserving  the  water,  if  necessary.     Thai  wash, 
scour,  and  clean  them  a  second  time,  with  wood-ashes,  rubbing 
them  down  with  a  linen  cloth  before  you  put  fresh  salt  upon 
them,  lest,  if  any  of  the  old  remained  upon  it,  it  should  be  a 
hindrance.     You  must  allow  the  water  of  the  first  washing, 
which  was  done  without  the  ashes,  to  remain  quiet,  so  that  you 
may  collect  the  colour  which  sinks  to  the  bottom,  throiring 
away  the  supernatant  water.    This  colour  may  be  distempered 
and  mixed  with  water,  or  still  better,  with  vinegar,  and  also 
with  linseed-oil,  or  even  with  white  of  egg. 

152-  How  to  make  and  temper  white  and  green, — ^White  and 
green  colours,  without  salt,  are  made  and  tempered  as  follows : 
Pour  very  strong  vinegar  into  a  vase,  and  place  twigs  of  trees 
across  it  inside  the  vase,  and  then  place  strips  of  lead,  and  other 
strips  of  copper  or  brass,  suspended  in  the  air  by  means  of  the 
twigs,  so  as  not  to  touch  the  vinegar  or  each  other.  Hien  close 
the  vase  very  carefrdly,  and  lute  it  with  clay  or  cement,  or 
wax,  so  that  there  may  not  be  the  least  hole  through  whidi  the 
vinegar  may  exhale.  Then  cover  it  with  horse-dung,  and,  after 
30  days,  on  account  of  the  acidity  of  the  vin^ar  or  the  wioe — 
for  the  wine,  on  account  of  the  heat  of  the  dung,  will  become 
vinegar — on  account,  I  say,  of  the  acidity  of  the  wine  or  vin^^, 
the  copper  or  brass  will  be  found  to  be  turned  green,  and  the 
lead  white.  Take  the  white,  dry  it,  and  grind  it,  and  temper 
it  with  wine,  and  use  it  for  painting  on  parchment,  and  mix  it 
with  oil  for  painting  on  wood  and  on  walls.    In  the  same  maimer 


8.  AUDEMARO  DE  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  121 

rem  postea  cum  cultello,  vel  alio  instrumento,  a  laminis  pre- 
dictis  extirpere  et  radere  debes,  et  si  aliqtiantuluin  de  albo  sale 
cum  viridi  remandisse  invenies,  non  sit  tibi  curae,  sed  caute  ciun 
cultello  vel  manu  separa,  et  projice.  Viridem  autem  reservan- 
dum  excipe,  et  postea  ipsas  tabulas  debes  primo  cum  aqua 
layare,  si  opus  fuerit,  senrando  aquam.  Deinde  secundo  etiam 
cum  dnere,  et  panno  lineo  fncando,  lavabis,  detergas,  et 
nitidas,  antequam  super  ipsas  alterum  salem  ponas,  ne  si  quid 
ex  veteri  remausit,  impedimento  fiat.  Cujus  lavatioms  prim® 
aquam,  quae  absque  cinere  erit,  quiescere  dimitte,  ut  colorem, 
qui  in  fimdo  remanet,  coUigas,  projiciendo  aquam.  Hie  color 
cum  aqua,  vel  melius  cum  aceto,  et  etiam  cum  oleo  lini,  dis-* 
temperatur,  et  moUitur,  nee  non  et  cum  vitello  ovi. 


152.  De  albo  et  viridi  colore  qvx>modo  fiant  et  distemperantun 
--Albus  autem  et  viridis  color,  absque  sale,  boc  modo  fit  et 
distemperatur.  In  vase  aceto  acerrimo  imposito,  et  desuper 
virgulas  ligneas,  intra  vas,  et  sic  tabulas  plumbeaa,  et  alias 
aaieas,  vel  cupreas,  pones  virgulis  suspense  in  acre,  ne  tangant 
acetum,  nee  se  invicem.  Deinde  vas  diligentissime  claudes, 
liniesque  de  argilla,  vel  cemento,  vel  cera,  ne  aliquod  spiracu- 
lum  remaneat,  per  quod  exalatio  fiat  Deinde  co-K)periatur  in 
fimo  equino  calido ;  post  dies  autem  xxx.  yas  aperiatur,  et  ex 
fortitudine  aceti  rel  vini,  quod  yinum  excalore  fimi  devenerit 
acetum,  et  ex  fortitudine  ipsius  vini  yel  aceti,  cuprum  vel  ass 
virideum,  plumbum  vero  album  inyenientur.  Sumptum  autem 
et  arefiactum  album,  teratur,  et  temperetur  cum  yino,  et  pinge- 
tur  in  pergamenis,  et  cum  oleo  in  lignis  et  in  materiis.  Simili- 
ter yirideum  cum  oleo  teres,  et  distemperabis,  et  operaberis  in 
lignis,  sed  in  materia  cum  vino,  v^l,  si  mavis,  cum  oleo.    In 


122  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BBGUE. 

grind  and  temper  the  green  with  oil,  and  me  it  for  painting  on 
wood ;  but  on  walla  with  wine,  or,  if  you  prefer  it,  with  oiL  On 
parchment,  however,  you  must  not  grind  it  with  oil,  but  you 
muat  temper  it  with  very  clear  and  good  wine,  or  with  vin^ar. 

153.  Of  a  green  uxUerj  or  colouvj  for  trrftfwy.— But  if  you 
wiah  to  write  letters,  put  the  green  powder  of  brass  in  wine  ot 
vinegar  as  aforesaid,  and  then  stir  it  ronnd  a  little  with  your 
finger  only,  and  immediately  the  whole  of  the  wine  or  vin^ar 
will  be  green.    If  the  wine,  before  it  has  cleared  itself  from  the 
dregs  of  the  said  green  powder,  is  very  green,  you  may  know 
that  it  has  enough  of  the  powder  of  brass.     If  it  seems  of  a 
dirty  colour,   appearing  contaminated  by  the  admixture  of 
yellow  impurities,  you  must  know  that  this  is  because  a  suffi* 
cient  quantity  of  the  green  powder  has  not  been  added  to  it: 
you  must  therefore  add  a  little  more,  and  stir  it  again  with 
your  finger,  and  again  let  it  rest ;  and  if  it  is  not  yet  of  a 
beautiful  colour,  add  more  of  the  powder,  and  stir  it  again  with 
your  finger,  and,  if  necessary,  do  this  a  third  time.     But  if  you 
wish  it  to  be  very  beautiful,  add  a  little  safiron ;  and  when 
it  has  settled  so  that  the  impurities  have  sunk  to  the  bottom, 
pour  off  the  clear  green  liquid  which  stands  uppermost  in  the 
vase,  and  you  will  thus  separate  it  from  the  impurities  and 
gross  substance  of  the  saffiron  that  was  put  into  it    If  you 
wish  to  write  with  it  inmiediately,  you  cannot  do  so  unless 
you  first  let  it  boil  over  the  fire  to  make  it  thicker ;  or  you  may 
let  it  stand  in  the  shade,  or  in  the  mild  breeze  of  the  evening 
or  morning ;  but  it  must  be  done  when  the  wind  blows  gently, 
and  must  not  be  put  in  the  sun, 

154.  To  make  minium  out  of  the  before^mentioned  white  colour, 
— ^The  white  colour  which  we  mentioned  before,  is  called,  I 
believe,  by  the  armourers  ceruse,  and  you  may  convert  it  into 
miwiiiwi  by  putting  it  into  a  jar  and  torrefying  it  over  the  fire  for 
two  days  and  two  nights,  stirring  it  firequently  in  the  vase  or 
jar  with  any  instrument ;  and  this  is  the  way  to  make  minium. 
Take  care  not  to  let  any  flame  get  inside  the  jar,  but  make  the 
fire  of  charcoal  only  without  flame ;  you  must  heap  the  charcoal 


S.  AUDEMAKO  DE  GOLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  123 

percbameniB  vero  non  teres  cum  oleo,  sed  in  vino  clarisBimo  et 
bonoy  leu  aceto,  temperare  debes. 


153.  De  aqua  vel  viridi  colore  ad  scribendum, — Si  yero  lit- 
teras  aciibere  volueris,  pone  yiridem  pulverem  sris  in  vino  yel 
aceto,  at  dictum  est,  et  sic  digito  tantum  fricabis,  et  statim 
totom  vinum  vel  acetum  virideum  erit ;  quod  si  valde  virideum 
fuerit  illud  yinum,  cum  necdum  a  fece  sua  dicte  pulyeris  yiridea 
sit  purgatum,  sdas  quod  sufficienter  habet  depulvere  eris  super- 
scripto.  Si  yero  turpem  colorem  yideatur  habere,  et  quasi 
crocei,  toipidis  commixtione  corruptum,  scias  esse  hoc  habere 
parum  pulyeris  ipsius  yiridis.  £t  ideo  aliquantulum  adde,  et 
digito  iterum  commisce,  et  postea  paululum  quiescere  sines,  et 
si  non  ad  hue  pulchrum  colorem  habet,  iterum  adde  de  pulyere, 
et  iterum  digito  firicabis,  et  postea  adhuc  sines  quiescere,  et,  si 
necease  fiierit,  fac  similiter  tercio.  £t  si  yis  quod  mir«  pul- 
critudinis  fiat,  adde  aliquantulum  de  croco  et  cum  quieyerit,  ita 
quod  feces  ad  fundum  decensa  sint,  mitte  clarissimum  yirideum 
desuper  stantem  in  yasculo,  et  sic  ipsum  separabis  a  fecibus,  et 
a  substancia  grossa  crossi  imposite;  et  si  ex  ipso  statim  soribere 
yolueris,  non  poteris,  nisi  prius  ad  ignem  ipsum  feryere  permi** 
seris,  ut  spissior  fiat,  yel  in  umbra  solis,  yel  mane,  yel  yespere, 
ad  auram  dulcem ;  quando  sed  yentus  suayiter  flat  ponendus 
est,  non  autem  in  sole. 


154.  Di  vdnio  faeiendo  de  albo  colore  ante  dicto. — Album 
sutem  colorem  de  quo  supra  diximus,  soutarii,  sicut  puto,  ceru- 
sam  yocant,  quern  in  mininm  yertes,  si  in  olla  posueris  duobus 
diebos  noctibus  que,  eandem  sspe  moyendo,  in  yase,  seu  olla, 
ipn  cum  aliquo  instrumento  ad  ignem  torrueris,  et  sic  minium 
facies.  Caye  autem  ne  in  olla  flamma  nullo  modo  tangat,  sed 
tantum  carbones,  yerum  absque  flamma ;  de  quibus  fac  con- 
geriem  albam,  usque  ad  medietatem  oUae,  et  earn  ore  aperto  in 


124  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

round  the  jar,  so  as  to  reach  half-way  up  the  jar,  which  must 
be  put  in  the  middle.  The  charcoal  should  be  large,  so  that 
the  air  may  pass  through  the  spaces  of  it,  and  keep  up  the 
heat;  it  should  not  be  small,  for  it  would  then  be  useless. 
When  it  begins  to  get  hot;  stir  the  colour  which  is  inside  it 
with  a  spoon,  or  with  a  strip  of  iron  or  brass,  or  a  stick :  so 
that  the  hot  colour,  which  is  next  the  side  of  the  vase,  may  be 
mixed  with  the  tepid  part  in  the  middle ;  for  this  stirring  is  the 
principal  cause  of  the  perfect  preparation  of  all  whidi  is  thus 
torrefied ;  and  this  stirring  must  be  repeated  four  or  fiye  times 
in  the  space  of  every  two  or  three  hours.  This  process  must 
be  continued,  as  I  said  before,  for  two  days  and  two  nights 
following :  not  sleeping  all  the  time,  unless  you  have  another 
person  to  supply  your  place  and  to  continue  stirring  it,  as  well 
as  to  take  care  of  the  fire,  and  to  manage  the  operation,  other- 
wise your  labour  will  be  in  vain.  When  the  large  charcoal  is 
all  consumed,  take  the  jar  oif  the  fire  with  a  blacksmith's 
pincers,  or  a  twisted  stick,  or  any  other  instrument,  and  throw 
away  the  small  coal  and  ashes,  and  put  fresh  charcoal.  We 
shall  mention  this  colour  frequently  hereafter. 

155.  How  to  make  the  green  from  brass  which  is  called  Greek  or 
common  green} — ^Kyou  wish  to  make  the  copper-green  which  is 
called  Greek,  take  a  new  jar,  or  any  other  concave  vase,  and  put 
into  it  the  strongest  or  most  acid  vinegar,  so  as  not  to  fill  it,  and 
put  strips  of  very  clean  copper  or  brass  over  the  vinegar,  so  that 
they  may  not  touch  the  vinegar  or  each  other,  being  suspended 
to  a  stick  placed  across  the  vase.  Then  cover  the  vase  and 
seal  it,  and  put  it  into  a  warm  place,  or  in  dung,  or  under 
ground,  and  leave  it  so  for  six  months,  and  then  open  the  vase 
and  scrape  and  shake  out  what  you  find  in  it,  and  oa  the  strips 
of  metal,  into  a  clean  vase,  and  put  it  in  the  sun  to  dry. 

156.  To  make  Bothomagenxian  green? — If  you  wish  to  make 
Rothomagensian  green,  take  strips  of  very  pure  copper  or  brass, 

*  This  recipe  and  the  next  are  in  the  Clavicula. 

*  Rothomagus,  Rouen  on  the  Seine.    This  recipe  is  in  the  ClaTicuIa, 
and  the  Sloane  MS.,  No.  1754. 


8.  ATJDEMASO  D£  C0L0IIIBT7S  7ACIENDIS.  125 

medio  compone,  carbones  autem  sint  magni,  et  per  rima£  eorum, 
Tentos  entret,  et  calorem  exerceat ;  non  minuti  vero,  quod  non 
perficerent  Cum  autem  torreri  coeperit,  colorem,  qui  intus  est, 
cum  cocleari,  yel  lamula  ferrea,  yel  aerea,  yel  lignea,  commoye, 
ut  qui  drca  testam  seu  oUam  calet,  illi  qui  in  medio  loco  tepet, 
misceatur.  Nam  commotio  haec  est  principalis  causa  omnibus  que 
ooqamitur,  ad  perfectionem  decoctionis  ipsorum;  hoc  autem 
per  duarum  yel  trium  horanim  spatium,  quater  yel  quinquies. 
Daobus  enim  diebus  ac  noctibus  continuis  est  agendum,  sicut 
dixi,  non  dormiendo  nisi  alter  accedat,  qui  hoc  ipsum  procuret, 
et  commociones  ipsas,  et  ignis  curam,  et  manutenaciones  agat ; 
alioquin  frustra  laborabis.  Cum  autem  carbones  grossi  con- 
snmpti  fuerint,  yel  forcisibus  ferieris^  yel  yirga  conterata,  yel 
alio  quodum  instrumento,  ollam  a  foco  extrahe,  et  minutos  car- 
boDcs  et  cineres  abjicies,  et  alios  adhibe.  De  hoc  eodem  colore 
aliqnanti  spei  in  sequentibus  loquimur. 


155.  Quamodo  Jit  viride  eris  quod  Grecum  dicitur  seu  com- 
mune.—Si  yis  facere  yiride  eris  quod  Grecum  dicitur,  accipe 
ollam  noyam,  aut  aliquod  aliud  yas  concayum,  et  mitte  in  eo 
acetom  fortissimum  seu  acerrimum,  ita  quod  yas  non  sit  ple- 
num, et  laminas  cupri  mundissime,  yel  seris,  pones  supra 
acetom,  ita  ut  non  tangant  acetum,  aut  se  inyicem,  suspendendo 
eas  ad  aliquod  lignum,  in  yase  extranyerso  positum,  et  ita 
cooperi  yas,  et  sigilla.  £t  sic  pone  illud  in  calido  loco,  aut  in 
fimo,  aut  in  terra,  et  ita  dimitte  usque  ad  sex  menses,  et  tunc 
aperies  illud  yas,  et  quod  in  eo  et  circa  dictas  laminas  inyeneris, 
rade,  et  excute  in  yase  mundo,  et  mitte  ad  solem  siccare. 

156,  De  viride  JRotfunnaffense  faciendo. — Si  yis  yiridem 
Bothomagensem  facere,  accipe  laminas  purisdmi  cupri,  yel 


126  IftANUSCRIFTS  OF  JTEHAN  LB  BBGI7B. 

smear  them  over  with  good  soap,  and  put  them  into  a  dean  rase 
made  for  this  purpose,  and  pour  into  it  some  pure  Tinegar ; 
then  suspend  the  strips  of  copper  or  brass  in  the  vase  to  a  stick 
stretched  across  it,  which  should  be  placed  as  high  up  as  possible, 
so  that  the  strips  may  not  touch  each  other  or  the  vin^ar-  Thai 
cover  up  the  vase  and  seal  it,  and  put  it  into  a  warm  place,  soch 
as  horse^lung,  or  the  refuse  of  the  wine-press  ;  or,  in  winter, 
cover  up  and  bury  the  vase  in  a  deep  bole  under  ground,  and 
thus  leave  it  for  one  month ;  then  open  it,  and  shake  and  scrape 
off  what  you  find  upon  the  strips,  putting  it  in  a  bason  or  an 
earthen  vase ;  place  it  hi  the  sun  to  dry,  and  preserve  it  for  use. 

157.  AlsOy  how  to  make  verdigrU  for  writing.-— Wbo&rex 
wishes  to  make  a  green  colour  for  writing,  let  him  pour  into  a 
copper  or  brass  vessel  equal  quantities  by  wei^t  of  honey  well 
mixed  with  vinegar,  and  then  bury  the  vessel  in  horse-dung,  in 
the  hottest  part  of  the  heap.  After  12  days  are  passed,  be  may 
take  the  colour  out  of  the  vase,  scraping  it  out ;  then  dry  it  in 
the  sun,  and  keep  it  for  use. 

158.  Aboy  how  to  make  green  without  brass. — Ji  you  wish  to 
make  earth-green,  take,  in  the  middle  of  May,  a  bunch  of  the 
flowers  of  the  herb  columbine  ;  pound  them  well  in  a  mortar, 
and  strain  the  juice  through  a  linen  cloth.  Then  put  this  juice 
into  a  vase,  and  place  it  in  tlie  sun  until  it  is  hard.  This  most 
be  tempered,  first  with  water,  and  then  with  egg,  on  wood  or 
on  walls ;  but  on  parchment  it  must  be  used  like  ceruse. 

159.  Also  to  make  green. — If  you  wish  to  make  a  green 
colour,  take  urine,  or  vinegar,  and  put  it  into  a  vase,  and 
make  a  plate  of  brass,  and  place  it  over  the  liquid  in  the  said 
vase  so  as  not  to  touch  the  urine,  and  afterwards  set  the  vase 
in  a  warm  place  and  cover  it  up  for  9  days,  then  take  it  oat 
and  collect  the  colour  which  is  produced.  This  is  tempered 
first  with  water,  and  afterwards  with  egg  on  wood  or  on  walk 
When  you  put  verdigris  upon  paper,  put  cherry  juice  [or  cer- 
visia  ?J  in  it.  If  it  is  not  of  a  fine  green,  mix  mride  terrenum. 
If  it  is  too  green,  so  as  to  be  too  dark,  mix  pure  orpiment  with  it 

160.  Also  verdigris  is  thtis  made, — Take  vinegar  and  put  it 


8.  AUDEBIAKO  D£  COLORIBTJS  FACIENDIS.  127 

aeris,  et  limifl  ipsas  in  circuitu  de  optimo  sayone,  et  mitte  ipsas 
in  Tase  mundo  ac  hoc  facto,  et  pone  in  ipso  de  puro  aceto,  et 
superpone  in  ipso  yase  dictaa  laminas  cupreas  yel  sreas,  sus- 
pensas  ad  yirgulam  in  yase  ex  transyerao,  altius  quam  poteris, 
sitam  ita  ut  lamine  non  ae  inyicem,  nee  acetum  tangant.  Pos- 
tea  cooperies  yaa,  et  sigilla,  et  in  calido  loco,  ut  in  fimo  eqnino^ 
aut  in  yinadis  pressorii  yinarii,  aut  in  hyeme  sub  terra,  in  pro* 
fundo  loco  cooperias,  et  sepelias,  dictum  yas.  £t  sic  dimittas 
nno  menae,  et  postea  aperies,  et  quod  inyeneris  in  circuitu  la- 
minarum  excuties  et  rades,  et  mittendo  in  bacino  yel  yase 
terreo,  et  pones  ad  solem  siccare,  et  usui  reserya. 

157.  Item  de  mridi  eris^  quo  modoJU  pro  xribendo. — ^Colorem 
viridem  qui  yult  ad  suum  usum  scribendi  facere  mel  cum  aceto 
yalde  mixtum  equo  pondere  infundat  ac  deinde  in  sterquilinio 
equorum  ubi  plus  calet  in  yase  cuprea  yel  sereo  cooperto  posi-^ 
turn  sepeliat  Postea  bis  senis  diebiis  transactis  illud  redpiet 
de  yase  ipsom  colorem  radendo  et  ad  solum  siccet  et  resenret 
pro  usu. 

158.  Item  de  fiendo  viridi  aliter  quam  erii. — Si  yis  facere 
terreum  yiride  in  medio  maio  acdpe  massam  florum  herbsB  quse 
yocatur  aquileia  et  pila  in  mortario  optime  et  cola  succum  per 
pannum  lineum.  Deinde  pone  ipsum  succum  in  yase  et  pone 
adaolem  siccare  usque  quo  durum  sit  Hoc  distemperatur 
primum  cum  aqua,  deinde  cum  oyo  ad  lignum  yel  murum,  in 
carta  pone  sicut  cerosium. 

159.  Item  de  viridi  faciendo. — Si  yis  facere  colorem  yiridem, 
acdpe  mictum  hominis,  t.  e,  urinam,  yel  acetum  et  mitte  in  yas, 
et  &c  laminam  eream,  et  pone  desuper  in  dicto  yase  ita  ut 
mictmn  non  tangat  et  pone  postea  yas  in  calido  loco  et  oooperi 
per  noyem  dies  postea  trahe  foris  et  colorem  exortum  execute. 
Hoc  distemperatur  primum  cum  aqua  post  cum  oyo  ad  lignum 
yel  murum.  In  cartam  dnm  ponit  yiride  eris  pone  succum 
oeroaium  in  ipso  A  non  bene  est  yiridis  misce  terrenum  yiridem. 
Si  nimiiim  est  yiride  ita  ut  nigrescat  misce  aiuipigmentum 
pomm. 

160.  Item  eris  viride  sic  fit, — Acdpe  acetum  et  pone  in  yaso 


128  MANUSCKIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGTTE. 

into  a  brass  or  copper  vase,  and  place  it  on  the  coals  so  as  to 
boil  strongly,  skim  it  well,  and  grind  it  with  a  little  alum  upon 
a  marble  slab.  Afterwards  put  it  in  a  brass  vase,  and  then 
leave  it  to  settle  for  a  day  or  two.  Then  pour  off  the  super- 
natant liquor  which  floats  over  the  dregs  at  the  bottom  into  an- 
other vase,  separating  it  from  the  before-mentioned  impurities, 
and  put  it  away  and  keep  it  for  use.  Then  pour  more  vinegar 
into  the  aforesaid  sediment,  and  mix  it  well.  Leave  it  so  for 
four  days,  so  that  everything  may  settle,  and  it  will  then  be  good 
green.  But  if  it  is  too  clear  or  liquid,  put  it  upon  lifted 
charcoal  without  flame,  so  that  it  may  boil  a  little  and  thicken, 
and  then  put  it  into  the  vase,  and  keep  it  for  use. 

161.  How  to  make  a  beautiful  green. — Mix  Spanish  green 
with  safiron,  and  distemper  them  both  together,  and  the  colour 
will  be  of  wonderful  beauty. 

162.  Of  folium^  how  it  is  distempered. — The  purple  colour 
called  yb/tum  by  the  laity,  by  whom  (or  rather  by  the  English, 
in  whose  country  it  is  prepared,  and  who  call  it  loorina)  it  is 
used  in  dyeing  wool,  is  not  always  tempered  in  the  same  manner ; 
for  some  persons  distemper  it  with  urine,  or  with  ley  made  from 
the  ashes  of  ash-trees,  and  particularly  on  walls  ;  while  others, 
on  parchment,  distemper  it  with  cheese-glue,  made  as  follows. 

163.  How  glue  is  made  from  cheese. — Fresh  cheese  is  first  to 
be  washed  in  hot  water,  until  the  milk  is  washed  out,  and  then 
ground  with  lime  and  water,  in  a  little  mortar  or  on  a  marble 
alab ;  and  a  little  before  this  is  done — ^namely,  while  the  cheese 
is  being  ground — the  colour  is  soaked  in  water  again.  Hien, 
when  the  cement  is  prepared,  so  as  to  be  as  white,  clear,  and 
shining  as  milk,  it  is  put  into  a  small  vase,  and  the  colour  b 
scraped  into  it  with  a  knife,  and  care  must  be  taken  not  to  let 
the  air  have  access  to  the  mixture ;  and  when  the  colour  is  seen 
to  be  good,  it  may  be  used  for  writing  at  pleasure. 

164.  Of  folium  stamipiensij  a  purple  colour^  how  it  is  tem- 
pered or  made. — ^Take  the  wood  of  the  tree  which  is  called 
elm  and  bum  it  in  the  fire,  and  collect  such  a  quantity  of  that 
flowery  ash  which  appears  upon  the  coals  as  you  think  will  be 


8.  AUDEBiAR  BE  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  129 

aereo  vel  cupreo  et  super  carbones  pone  ut  fortiter  bulliat  et 
spuma  illud  optime  et  ex  eo  cum  alumine  modico  super  mar- 
morem  tere  yiridem.  Poetea  in  vase  sreo  mitte  et  sic  uno  die 
yel  duobus  dimitte  ut  resideat  Illud  autem  quod  super  feces 
in  ftmdo  descensas  nataverit  in  aliud  yas  a  dictis  fecibus  sepa- 
rando,  mitte  et  reserva  deinde  acetum  iterum  mitte  in  fecibus 
superscriptisy  et  misce  bene.  Postea  dimitte  sic  per  quatuor 
dies  ut  quicquid  quiescat  et  tunc  forte  bonum  viride  erit  Si 
vero  nimium  clarum  seu  liquidem  fuerit  pone  super  carbones 
ignites  absque  flammis  ut  modicum  bulliat  et  spissum  fiet  tunc 
mitte  in  prsedicto  vase  ad  serrandum  usui. 

161.  Q^amodo  pukhrum  fiat  viride. — Viridi  Hispanico  ad- 
misce  crocum  et  distempera  simul  et  mirse  pulchritudinis  erit. 

162.  De  folio  qwymodo  distemperatur, — Purpureus  color  quem 
folium  Yocant  laici  qui  lanam  inde  tingunt  vel  potius  Anglici  in 
quorum  terra  conficitur  worina  vocant  non  uno  semper  modo 
distemperatur.  Nam  aliqui  cum  urina  vel  lexivia  de  cinere 
feudni  facta  ut  in  parietibus  precipue  alii  in  pergamenis  ciun 
visco  de  caseo  ita  facto. 

163.  Qttomodo  viscum  de  ccueo  fiat. — Primum  recentum 
caseum  in  aqua  calida  lavant,  donee  lac  eliciatur  et  sic  ilium 
in  mortariolo  vel  super  marmorem  terunt  cum  calce  et  aqua  et 
paalo  antequam  hoc  agant  dum  scilicet  teritur  caseus,  iterum 
ipsum  colorem  in  aqua  temperare  permittunt.  Deinde  cum 
▼iacom  preparatum  habent,  sic  album  et  nitidum  et  clarum 
velut  lac.  Inducunt  in  yasculo  et  super  incidunt  cultello  ipsum 
colorem  jam  temperatum  in  aqua  et  time  cayent  ne  ventus  tan- 
gat  ipsam  confectionem  et  si  cum  viderit  colorem  esse  bonum 
scribunt  inde  prout  ipsis  placuerit 

164.  De  folio  Stamipiensi  (sic)  purpureo  colore  qvomodo  distem" 
peratur  seu  fit. — Sume  tibi  ligna  arboris  quae  ulmus  vocatur  et 
arde  in  ignem,  ilium  yero  florem  cineris  qui  super  carbones  ap- 
paret  toUes  et  in  unum  pones  quantum  tibi  sufficere  putas  et  in 

VOL.  I.  K 


130  MANUSCBIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOUK 

sufficient  for  you,  grind  it  in  a  mortar,  and  distemper  it  with 
urine  so  that  it  maybe  as  thick  as  dough;  make  it  into  cakesaa 
thick  as  you  like,  and  put  these  cakes  upon  two  trays  or  plates 
of  iron,  or  baked  bricks,  in  order  that  they  may  bum  for  a  day 
and  a  half.  Then  take  them  out  of  the  fire  and  put  them  into  a 
mortar  and  pound  them  until  they  are  reduced  to  powder.  Hoi 
fflft  this  powder  through  a  sieve,  or  make  it  pass  throng  a 
sifter.  Againy  while  you  are  doing  this,  you  must  have  a  jar 
prepared  full  of  urine,  and  let  it  boil  over  the  fire  three  or  four 
times ;  then  remove  it  firom  the  fire,  and  add  to  it  of  firesh  urine 
one  half  or  less,  until  it  is  tepid,  and  then  stir  them  together. 
Afterwards  take  the  colour,  which  is  called  folium,  and  put  it 
into  a  vase,  and  wash  it  with  this  prepared  urine,  rubbing  it 
between  your  hands,  and  hold  it  against  one  side  of  the  jar  and 
throw  away  the  urine ;  then  take  the  above-mentioned  ashes 
and  fill  one  ladle  with  them,  and  take  another  ladlefiil  of 
folium,  and  lay  one  couch  of  ashes  in  that  vase  by  sprinkling 
them,  and  then  one  of  folium,  and  do  so  until  the  fbUum  and 
the  ashes  are  all  mixed.  Then  again  rub  them  between 
your  hands,  and  so  leave  them  for  three  days,  well  covered 
up  by  the  fire,  that  they  may  keep  warm.  But  the  best  colour 
will  of  itself,  when  it  be^ns  to  get  warm,  be  covered  all  over 
with  a  purple  bloom.  If  you  wish  to  dye  anything,  put  the 
water  into  a  vessel ;  but  if  you  have  nothing  to  dye,  let  the 
water  and  the  folium  cool,  so  that  you  may  make  it  into  small 
cakes,  and  you  may  keep  it  as  long  as  you  like,  and  put  it  into 
an  oven. 

165.  Of  the  different  sorts  of  saffron. — You  must  not  take 
all  kinds  of  safiron  for  painting  or  writing  with,  for  you  must 
know  that  that  which  grows  in  our  country  of  Gaul,  as  well  as 
throughout  the  whole  of  France,  is  not  good ;  and  although  it 
has  some  resemblance  to  the  good  sort,  yet  it  has  not  the  exact 
colour,  smell,  or  taste  of  the  perfect  sort ;  for  there  is  a  certain 
herb  with  whitish  leaves  and  roots,  the  flowers  of  which  we  call 
crocusj  but  which  the  laity  call  saffron.  When  you  see  these 
flowers  have  a  certain  whiteness  at  the  top  of  one  sidcj  you 


S.  AUDEMAR  DB  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  131 

mortariolo  fortiter  teres,  cum  urina  distemperabis  ita  ut  panis 
crudus  spisBum  sit,  facies  que  de  ea  tortellos  quantum  grossos 
TolueriB  quos  super  duas  dolatiles  seu  laminas  ferreas  vel  la- 
teres  coctoe  .pones  ut  ibi  super  carbones  usque  ad  dimidium 
diem  ardeant  Dein  trahe  ab  igne  item  que  in  mortariolo 
pones  et  multum  fortiter  usquedum  pulvis  fiat  Pestabis; 
postea  attenuabis  per  satadura  vel  per  staminiam,  transire 
facias*  Iterum  dum  hoc  fecies,  habebis  ollam  paratam  plenam 
urina  et  cum  tribus  vel  quatuor  vicibus  bullire  permittes.  Postea 
ab  igne  retrahes  et  cum  ea  de  urina  cruda,  medietatem  vel  mi- 
nuSy  usque  dum  tepida  fiierit  vel  fiat  similiter  misces.  Posthaec 
aociines  ilium  colorem  qui  folium  vocatur  et  in  uno  vase  pones 
abluesque  de  ilia  mixta  urina  inter  manus  tuas  firicando,  attra- 
hes  que  in  unam  partem  et  feces  urinae  projicies  foris.  Tunc 
acdpies  iUum  suprascriptum  cinerem  et  unam  scutellam  de  eo 
implebis  et  de  folio  aliam  fiaxaes  que  in  illo  vase  de  cinere  pul- 
verando  unum  lettum  et  unum  desuper  de  folio  sic  que  facies 
usque  dum  folium  et  cinis  mixta  dnt  Iterumque  inter  manus 
tuas  fricabis  et  sic  dimittes  usque  tribus  diebus  bene  coopertum 
juxta  ignem  ut  calefiat.  Ipse  vero  optimus  color  de  se  ipso  emit- 
tet  colorem  purpureum  super  se  cum  cepit  calescere.  Si  vero 
aliquid  tingere  volueris  pcmesaquam  in  sarta^e.  Si  vero  tin- 
gere  non  babes  dimittes  aquam  et  folium  sic  refrigerari  ita  ut 
posus  ex  eo  parvos  tortellos  facere  et  servare  poteris  quantum 
volueris  et  in  forulo  pone. 


165.  De  croeo  et  de  diversitatibus  ejas. — Omnem  crocum  ad 
jnngendum  assumere  non  oportet  vel  ad  scribendum.  IUum 
enim  qui  in  hac  nostra  patria  galliae  ut  in  toto  Francia  crescit 
bcmum  uon  esse  non  nescias.  £t  quamvis  aliquam  similitudi- 
nem  boni  habeat  tamen  vere  colorem  nee  odorem  nee  saporem 
illius  perfecte  habet  et  enim  quedam  herba  albo  silis  foliis  et  ra- 
didbus  cujus  flores  nos  crocum  laici  vero  safiran  vocant  Quos 
flores  cum  videris  gestare  quandam  candorem  ex  una  parte  in 
summittate  sdas  quod  non  est  bonus  cum  duos  digttos  saliva 

k2 


132  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEQUE. 

may  know  that  they  are  good.  When  you  wet  two  of  yoTir 
fingers  with  saliva,  and  rub  the  saffitm  a  little  between  yonr 
fingers,  if  your  fingers  immediately  become  yellow,  you  may 
know  that  the  saffiron  comes  from  Italy  or  Spain,  and  is  good ; 
but  in  Sicily,  as  a  certain  Ysidius  [Isidorus]  says,  the  best  is 
that  which  is  called  corigcos ;  and  a  great  deal  of  excellent 
saffron  comes  from  thence,  very  fragrant  to  the  smell,  aod  of  a 
colour  superior  to  gold.  Some  temper  this  with  egg ;  others 
both  grind  and  temper  it  with  egg,  or  mix  it  with  water,  and 
strain  it  through  a  linen  cloth,  and  then  they  paint  with  it 
However,  I  do  none  of  these  things,  but  only  put  clear  water 
into  a  very  clean  vase  ;  I  then  sprinkle  the  saffron  over  it,  and, 
after  a  little  while,  when  I  see  the  water  well  impregnated  with 
it,  I  put  it  on  the  coals  for  a  short  time,  leaiong  the  saffiron  in 
it,  and  then,  with  a  pencil  or  pen  prepared  for  this  purpose,  I 
paint  upon  skins  and  other  things,  and  upon  box-wood,  in  order 
to  colour  it  yellow,  or  to  redden  it,  by  mixing  the  saffiron  with 
wine,  and  then  laying  it  on  the  box-wood.  If  you  wish  to  make 
the  wood  shine,  let  the  saffit>n  dry,  and  then  lay  on  some  more 
with  oil. 

166.  That  there  are  three  kinds  of  folium,  and  of  the  way  to 
temper  the  purple  folium,^ — ^There  are  three  kinds  of  fohom ; 
one  purple,  another  red,  and  a  third  sapphire  blue,  which  yon 
must  temper  as  follows.  Take  ashes,  and  sift  them  through  a 
cloth,  pour  cold  water  over  them,  make  them  into  cakes  like 
loaves  of  bread,  and  put  them  into  the  fire  until  they  are  quite 
white  hot.  When  they  haVe  been  burnt  for  a  long  time,  and 
have  afterwards  cooled,  put  part  of  them  into  an  earthen  vase, 
and  pour  urine  over,  stir  them  with  a  stick,  and,  when  they  have 
settled  clear,  pour  the  liquor  on  the  red  folium,  and  grind  it  a 
little  on  a  stone,  adding  to  it  one-fourth  part  of  quicklime, 
and  when  it  is  ground  and  suffidently  moistened,  strain  it 
through  a  cloth,  and  lay  it  with  a  pencil  wherever  you  like, 
first  thinly,  and  afterwards  more  thickly.     And  if  you  wish  to 


>  This  18  a  tnuiscnpt  oFchap.  zxzv.  of  the  firat  book  of  Theopbilm. 


S.  AUDEMAR  DE  COLORIBUS  FAOENDIS.  133 

hmnectabis  et  florem  inter  eos  paululum  fiicabis  et  statim  crocoB 
habueris  inde  digitos  scias  quod  ex  Italia  vel  Expania  venit  et 
bonus  est  In  Sicilia  autem,  ut  Ysidius  ait  quidam,  melior  est 
qui  coriscos  dicitur,  nnde  crocuin  plnrimum  et  optimum  venit. 
Spiramine  flagrantius  et  colore  pulchrius  auro.  Himc  cum  oyo 
distemperant,  alii  etiam  cum  ovo  terunt  et  distemperant  vel 
com  aqua  per  lineum  pannum  transire  faciunt  et  sic  isti  pin- 
gont  Ego  yero  nicbil  borum  facio  sed  tantum  in  mundissimo 
Tasculo  claram  aquam  mitto,  Dein  crocum  desuper  spargo  et 
post  modicum  cum  videro  aquam  totam  inde  oonfectam  super 
carbones  paululum  simulque  crocum  permitto  et  deinde  cmn 
pinceUo  yel  pennula  ad  id  parata  in  pellibus  pingo  et  alibi  et 
super  buxum  ut  croceus  fiat  vel  rubicundior  ubi  crocus  cum 
vioo  distemperandus  est  et  sic  buxo  superponendus  est  quod  si 
volueris  ut  ipsum  lignum  luceat  permitte  prius  crocum  siccari. 
Postea  cum  oleo  eum  super  ilium  pone. 


166.  Qtiod  folii  tria  sunt  genera^  et  de  modo  distemperandi 
purpureum. — ^Tria  sunt  folii  genera ;  imum  purpureum,  aliud 
rubeum,  turcium  sapbirum  que  sic  temperabis.  Tolle  cineres 
et  crebra  eos  per  pannum ;  Ferfondes  eos  aqua  fi^gida  fac  inde 
t(»tulas  ad  similitudinem  panis  mittes  que  ea  in  igne  donee  om- 
nino  candescant  Postquam  diutissime  canduerint  et  postea 
friguerint  mitte  partem  in  vas  fictile  perfunde  urina,  move  ligno, 
cum  que  residerent  lucide  perfunde  rubeum  folium  et  teres  illud 
modice  super  lapidem  addens  ei  quartam  partem  vivse  calcis,  et 
cum  tritum  fuerit,  et  sufficienter  perfusum  cola  per  pannum  et 
trahe  cum  pnceUo  ubi  volueris  tenue  deinde  spissius  et  si  placet 
in  similitudinem  palii  in  pagina  facere  purpureo  folio  eodem 
temperamento  absque  calce  profuso  pinge  penna  vel  pincello. 


134  MANUSCRIPTS  OV  JEHAK  LS  BBGVE. 

represent  a  robe  on  the  page  [of  a  book],  paint  it  with  poiple 
folium,  moistened  with  the  same  vehicle,  but  without  lime,  with 
a  pen  or  a  hair  pencil. 

167.  Of  azure  ;  how  and  with  what  vehides  it  is  tempered, — 
Of  the  etherial  colour,  (ht,  to  speak  in  common  language,  the 
azure  or  blue  colour,  I  have  nothing  very  certain  to  say,  as 
some  grind  and  temper  it  with  goat*s  milk,  others  with  woman's 
milk,  and  others  with  white  of  egg ;  and  either  of  these  is 
sufficiently  good. 

168.  Haw  azure  is  prepared  and  purified. — But  I  shall  not 
conceal  how  I  purify  it  when  it  comes  to  my  hands.  I  first 
pour  it  into  a  bason,  and  put  a  little  water  along  with  it,  and 
rub  it  with  my  finger  until  it  is  thoroughly  moistened,  and  then 
I  pour  in  more  water  and  stir  it  well,  and  let  it  rest  When 
it  has  settled,  I  pour  off  the  water,  turbid  firom  the  impurities, 
into  another  vase,  keeping  the  precious  colour  which  remans  at 
the  bottom  of  the  vase,  for  its  nature  is  such  that  the  finer  and 
purer  the  colour  is  the  heavier  it  is,  and  tfaerefi^re  the  sooner  it 
reaches  the  bottom  ;  and  the  impurities,  or  the  whitish  or  yel- 
lowish parts,  which  are  lighter,  float  or  remain  above  it  in  the 
water.  And,  if  necessary,  I  repeat  this  process  several  tim^ 
pouring  water  out  and  in  until  it  is  purified ;  and  whoi  it  is 
well  purified  and  ground  with  water,  after  I  have  put  it  into  a 
horn,  I  pour  in  very  clear  whipped  white  of  egg,  and  paint  upon 
the  places  in  which  I  wish  to  paint  anything ;  and  I  afterwards 
throw  away  the  same  white  of  egg  within  the  space  of  one  hour, 
for  if  it  remains  in  it  any  longer  it  spoils  the  colour  by  depriving 
it  of  its  fine  appearance  and  beauty.  And  after  I  have  thrown 
away  the  white  of  egg,  I  immediately  fill  the  horn  with  cold 
water  and  stir  up  the  colour,  and  wash  it  with  water,  throwing 
away  the  same  water  after  an  hour,  while  the  colour  settles 
and  sinks  to  the  bottom ;  for,  as  I  said,  if  the  egg,  or  the  said 
water  impregnated  with  the  said  egg  by  the  washing  of  the 
colour  were  to  remain  any  longer,  the  colour  would  be  deterio- 
rated. This  colour  is  used  on  walls  with  egg  and  with  water ; 
but  on  wood  it  is  ground  with  oil,  like  other  colours. 


S.  AUDEliAR  DB  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  135 


167.  De  dzurio  quomodo  distemperaiur  e/  cum  quibus  liquari" 
Aia.— De  etherio  colore,  vel  ut  juxta  vulgare  loquar  lazurio  rel 
perao  quid  oertius  dicam  non  habeo  quia  alii  cum  lacte  caprino 
alii  cum  lacte  mulieris  aUi  cum  glarea  ovi  molunt  ac  distem^ 
perant  et  satb  utrumque  bonum  est 

168.  Quo  modo  preparetur  et  purgetur  azurium. — 6ed  quo 
modo  cum  admanuB  meas  venerit  ilium  preparare  non  tacebo. 
In  primis  fimdo  id  opus  in  bacino  simulque  cum  eo,  paululum 
aquae  mitto,  et  cum  digito,  tamdiu  fiico  quousque  totus  made- 
fiu2tu8  sit,  ac  deinde  habundancius  aquam  infundo  et  bene  mis- 
oeo  et  quiescere  permitto.  Postquam  quieverit  eamdem  aquam 
sic  turbatam  ex  emundicia  in  alio  vase  recipio  reservaturque  go- 
l<H:em  precioeutaqui  in  fundo  remanet  vasis,  nam  hujus  modi 
natune  est  ut  quanto  pulchrior  et  purior  est  tanto  ponderosior 
et  ideo  tanto  ad  fundum  labatur ;  et  immundicea  seu  pars  albes- 
oentis  vel  crooeantis  colons  qui  nimis  gravis  est  superius  natet 
vel  maneat  et  si  necesse  fiierit  id  ipsum  siepius  repeto  aquam 
saepe  iniundendo  et  efiundendo  donee  pergatus  sit  £t  jambene 
purgatum  et  cum  aqua  tritum  postquam  in  comu  reposuero 
postea  loca  in  quibus  inde  aliquid  £sicere  voluero  glaream  ovi 
multum  clarum  immitto  et  operor.  Postea  glaream  eamdem 
prius  unius  bore  spacium  jecturus  nam  si  diutius  intus  remanse- 
rit  corrumpet  colorem  illi  predpuam  speciem  et  pulchritudinem 
auferendo.  £l  postquam  glaream  ejecero  statim  illud  comu 
aqua  frigida  repleo  et  misceo  colorem  et  lavo  cum  aqua,  eandem 
aquam  post  horam  dum  color  ad  fundum  quescendo  descendit 
rejecturus.  Nam  ut  dixi  si  diutius  remaneret  ovum  vel  dicta 
aqua,  de  dicto  ovo  ex  ipsa  lavatione  coloris  infecta  color  corrum- 
peretur.  Hunc  colorem  cum  aqua  et  cum  ovo  in  materia  ponet 
in  ligno  vero  cum  oleo  ut  tritos  colores. 


136  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGTJE. 

169.  How  azure  is  made} — ^If  you  wish  to  make  azure,  take 
a  new  jar  that  has  never  been  used,  and  put  into  it  strips  of 
very  pure  silver,  as  many  as  you  like,  and  so  cover  it  up,  and 
seal  it,  and  put  the  jar  among  the  grape-skins,  and  keep  it  well 
for  14  days  and  then  open  the  jar,  and  scrape  into  a  very  dean 
vase  the  efflorescence  which  you  find  on  the  silver,  which  will 
be  a  perfect  azure,  and  of  a  blue  colour,  provided  that  the 
silver  contains  no  alloy  or  mixture  of  any  other  metal,  but  only 
consists  of  the  purest  and  finest  silver.  If  it  contains  any 
brass,  you  willobtain  a  colour  which  is  rather  green,  than  blue 
or  azure.  If  you  afterwards  want  any  more  of  it,  do  again  as 
before  directed. 

170.  To  nuAe  azure  not  so  good  \as  the  last],* — If  you  wish 
to  make  another  azure,  take  a  jar  of  very  piire  copper,  and  pat 
lime  into  it  until  it  is  half  full,  and  then  fill  the  jar  with  veiy 
strong  vinegar,  and  so  cover  it  up  and  seal  it  Then  place  the 
jar  under  ground,  if  it  is  in  winter,  that  it  may  be  warm  there, 
or  among  the  grape-skins,  or  in  hot  horse-dung,  or  in  any  other 
hot  place,  and  so  leave  it  for  one  month.  Afterwards,  open  the 
jar,  and  scrape  off  what  you  find  upon  it,  and  put  it  in  the  sun 
to  dry.  This  azure  is  not  so  good  as  the  last,  but  it  is  useful 
for  wood  or  walls. 

171.  Also  ofariother  way  of  making  blue  with  the  juice  of  blue 
flofwers, — If  you  wish  to  make  a  third  kind  of  azure,  take  blue 

flowers,  that  is,  of  an  azure  colour,  and  grind  them,  and  press 
out  the  juice,  straining  it  through  a  cloth  into  a  Very  clean  vase. 
And  you  must  first  make  the  ground  of  your  work,  whether  on 
wood  or  on  parchment,  with  white  lead,  which  is  called  ceruse, 
and  put  over  it  three  or  four,  or  five  coats  of  this  expressed 
blue  juice  or  colour,  and  repeat  this  until  you  find  the  colour 
appears  like  azure,  letting  it  dry  each  time  you  lay  it  on,  before 
you  apply  a  firesh  coat. 

1  Thia  recipe  is  in  the  Appendix  to  the  MS.  of  Theophilua  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  in  the  Mappes  Clavicula,  p.  7. 
<  This  recipe  and  the  next  are  also  in  the  Mappes  Clavicala,  p.  7. 


^m 


S.  AUDEMAR  DB  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  137 

169. — De  azurio  quo  modo  efficitur, — Si  vis  facere  azurrium 
optiinum  accipe  ollam  novam  que  nunquam  in  opus  fuerit  et 
mitte  in  eas  laminas  purissimi  arg^nti  quantas  vis  et  sic  cooperi 
earn  et  sigilla  et  mitte  ipsam  ollam  in  vindemia  et  serva  bene 
usque  ad  quindeeim  dies  et  sic  aperies  illam  ollam  et  ilium 
florem  qui  erit  in  circuitu  laminarum  argentearum  excudes  in 
mundissimo  vase.  Quod  perfectum  azurium  erit  et  oelestini 
col<ri8  dum  tamen  argentam  lamhuirum  muUum  amgamentum 
?el  mixturam  alterius  cujus  que  metalli  in  se  continuerit  pre- 
terquam  purissimum  ac  finissimum  argentum.  Quid  si  in  se 
aliquid  eris  continuerit  viridatis  potius  quam  celestis  vel  azurii 
colorem'obtinebis  et  si  poetea  amplius  volueris  habere,  iterum 
£gu!  ut  superscriptum  est 

170.  De  CLzurio  alio  non  tarn  bonofaciendo, — De  alio  azurio 
ri  vis  &cere,  accipe  ampullam  purissimi  cupri,  et  mitte  in  earn 
calcem  usque  ad  medium,  et  sic  imple  ampulam  fortissimo 
aceto  et  ita  cooperi  et  sigilla.  £t  tunc  mitte  ipsam  ampulam 
in  profundo  terrse  si  erit  in  hyeme  ut  ibi  calidum  sit  aut  in 
vindemia  aut  in  fimo  equimo  calido,  aut  in  alio  calido  loco,  et 
ita  dimitte  usque  ad  unum  mensem  et  postea  aperies  ampulam 
et  ex  ea  rade  quod  in  ipsa  inveneris  et  mittes  ad  solem  siccare. 
Illud  azureum  non  est  ita  bonum  sicut  aliud,  tamen  valet  ad 
lignum  vel  materiam. 

171.  Item  aliter  modojiendo  azurio  cum  meco  Jlorum  persa- 
mm, — ^Tertium  azurium  si  vis  facere,  accipe  flores  blauos  id 
est  oelestini  coloris  et  teres  et  exprime  colando  per  telam  in 
mundissimo  vase  et  fac  prius  campum  tui  operis  sit  in  ligno  vel 
sit  in  pergameno,  De  albo  plumbo  quod  cerusa  didtur  et  mitte 
desuper  tries  aut  quatnor  aut  quinque  lectos  de  ipso  succo  seu 
colore  blauo  expresso,  et  tantum  ita  &c  usque  quo  videas  ipsum 
colorem  dmilem  esse  azurio  permittendo  qualibet  vice  quam 
posueris  dccare  antequam  reponas. 


138  .   KANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  I£  BBQUS. 

1 72.  How  to  make  a  black  colour  in  various  manntfrf.— Every 
black  colour  which  is  used  in  painting  on  skinSy  we  know  to  be 
atramentum,  distempered  in  Tarious  nuumers,  except  that  with 
which  we  stain  the  skin,  which  is  commonly  called  eorduamm 
(cordovan).  But  that  black  colour  is  made  of  oil  and  scales  of 
iron,  boiled  together  for  a  very  long  time,  and  it  is  laid  on  the 
skin«  not  with  a  pen  or  a  brush,  but  with  a  very  sharp  piece  of 
wood,  namely  boxwood.  But  on  walls,  or  on  wood,  we  take  char- 
coal, made  of  leather,  or  of  hay,  or  of  wood  of  any  kind,  except 
oak,  which,  on  account  of  its  hardness,  can  scarcely  erer  be  suffi- 
ciently ground.  If  you  wish  to  lay  black  over  other  colours 
on  parchment,  you  must  not  put  incaustum,  but  know  that  you 
must  take  charcoal  distempered  with,  egg,  and  the  same  m 
walls  either  with  water  or  vrith  egg,  and  on  wood  with  oil ;  and 
whoever  takes  the  soot  of  rushes  and  oil,  where  they  are  bomt 
together  over  a  lamp,  and  calcines  it  in  a  jar  upon  coals,  and 
grinds  it  with  water  or  with  egg,  or  with  ml,  will  find  it  a  very 
excellent  colour  wherever  he  wants  it 

173.  Also  of  another  mode  of  making  black. — Take  the  bark 
of  the  wood  which  is  called  elm,  and  cut  it  into  small  peces, 
and  put  it  into  a  vessel  to  boil  with  water;  and  take  the 
rust  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  wat^  under  a  workman^s 
grindstone,  and  mix  it  with  the  said  bark,  in  order  that  they 
may  boil  over  the  fire  together ;  and  add  to  them  atramentom 
distempered  with  the  aforesaid  water  of  the  bark.  Afterwards, 
if  you  wish  to  dye  anything,  put  it  in  while  the  water  boils, 
and  so  leave  it  from  morning  until  the  third  hour  of  the  day 
(t.6.  from  6  to  9  A.M.),  until  it  is  diminished  to  a  third  of  the 
quantity.  And  if  what  was  put  into  it  is  not  well  dyed,  pat  it 
in  agun,  and  add  a  little  atramentum,  in  order  that  that  which 
is  put  into  the  composition  may  be  better  dyed. 

174.  To  make  vermilion} — ^If  you  wish  to  make  very  good 
vermilion,  take  a  glass  flask,  and  lute  it  outade.  Then  take 
one  part  by  weight  of  quickalver,  and  two  parts  of  sul|^ur  of  a 

'  This  recipe  is  aiao  in  the  Clavicula. 


S.  AtJBEMAR  DE  COLOKIBTTS  FACIENDIS.  139 

172.  De  nigro  colore  quomodoJU  diversi  tnade. — Onme  atnim 
oolorem  xmde  pingitur  in  pellibus  scimus  attramentum  esse 
THriis  modis  distemperatum  prater  ilium  de  quo  tingimus 
illam  pellem,  quam  vulgus  corduanum  vocat  Blud  autem 
nigmm  ex  olio  paleaque  ferri  diutissime  simul  coctis  fit  et  in 
eadem  pelle  non  cum  penna  nee  cum  pincello  sed  cum  ligno 
acutissimo  scilicet  buxeo  pin^tur.  In  parietibus  vero  vel  in 
lignis  assumimus  carbones  scilicet  de  lignis  cujus  libet  generis, 
?el  de  corio  vel  de  feno  £Bu;tos  prseter  querqueos  que  vix  un- 
qnam  pro  eomm  duritie  suffienter  teri  possnnt.  Sed  n  in  per- 
gamenis  supra  ceteros  colores  ponere  volueris  nigrum  non 
pones  incaustum  sed  scias  quod  carbones  cum  ovo  distemperatos 
assumes,  in  materiis  nmiliter,  vel  cum  aqua,  vel  cum  ovo,  et  in 
Ggnis  cum  oleo.  Fuligine  quoque  junci  et  olei  ubi  simul  in 
lampade  ardent  qui  ceperit  si  in  testa  super  carbones  torruerit 
et  com  aqua  vel  cum  ovo  vel  oleo  triverit  valde  optimum  colo* 
rem  ubique  voluerit  comprobabit. 

173.  Itemy  alio  modo  de  nigro  fadendo, — ^Accipe  corticeni 
Hgni  quod  elna  vocatur  et  per  particulas  inddes  mittes  que  in 
sartaginem  i.e.  patellam  cum  aqua  bullire.  Accipies  que  fer- 
ro^nem  que  est  in  fundo  cum  aqua  subtus  in  ollam  fiibri.  £t 
mittecnm  dicto  cortice  ut  simul  ad  ignem  bulliat  ponesque 
cum  eis  attramentum  de  ilia  supradicta  aqua  dicti  cortids  ligni 
distemperatum.  Postea  in  volueris  aliquid  tingere  mittes  intus 
dum  aqua  bullierit  et  sic  id  dimittes  a  mane  usque  ad  terciam. 
Et  ffl  bene  tinctum  non  fiierit,  quod  intus  positum  fiierit,  iterum 
intus  reponatur  adjiciatur  que  parumper  de  attramento  ut  me- 
lius tingator  id  quod  in  compositione  mittetur. 


174.  De  vepnictdo  faciendo. — Si  vis  faoere  vermiculum  opti* 
mum  acdpe  ampulam  vitream  et  lini  de  foris  luto.  £t  sic 
acdpe  unum  pondus  argenti  Tivi  et  duo  pondera  sulphuris  albi 


140  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

white  or  yellow  colour,  and  put  them  into  the  aforesaid  flask, 
which  you  must  afterwards  place  upon  four  stones,  and  make  a 
Tery  slow  fire  of  charcoal  piled  round  the  flask,  and  cotct  up 
the  mouth  of  the  flask  with  a  tile ;  and  when  you  see  a  bine 
vapour  come  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  flask,  cover  it  up ;  and  if 
a  yellow  vapour  comes  out,  cover  it  up  also.  But  when  there 
comes  out  a  vapour  nearly  as  red  as  vermiUon,  then  take  it 
away  from  the  fire,  and  you  will  have  excellent  vermilion  in 
the  flask. 

175.  Another  way  of  making  vermilion. — ^Take  a  glass  jar, 
and  quicksilver  and  sulphur,  and  weigh  them,  so  that  two  parts 
may  be  of  sulphur,  and  the  third  of  quickolver,  and  fill  the 
flask  with  them  up  to  the  neck.  But  first  cover  the  flask  with 
three  coats  of  very  good  clay,  then  put  in  the  aforesaid  articles, 
so  that  the  sulphur  may  be  underneath,  and  the  quicksilTer 
above,  and  put  red  tile,  well  pounded,  firom  the  neck  to  the  top 
of  it,  and  place  it  upon  three  stones  over  a  charcoal  fire,  and 
let  it  bum  until  a  blue  vapour  comes  off,  and  then  it  will 
suffice. 

176.  How  to  make  minium^  otherwise  called  sandaraca. — If 
I  am  not  mistaken,  minium,  that  is  sandaraca,  and  white  lead, 
that  is  ceruse,  are  of  one  nature.  If  you  put  ceruse  into  the 
fire  it  takes  a  new  name,  and  colour,  and  strength ;  becanae, 
the  more  it  is  burnt  the  redder  it  is,  and  the  less  it  is  bnmt 
the  more  it  retains  its  former  colour,  that  is,  its  whiteness  or  its 
paleness ;  and  in  laying  it  upon  walls,  it  is  ground  with  gam- 
water,  but  never  with  egg.  It  can,  however,  be  laid  upon 
parchment,  distempered  with  egg ;  but  on  wood,  with  oU. 

177.  How  minium  is  mixed  with  vermilion. — If  any  one 
wishes  to  illuminate  a  manuscript  he  must  not  do  that  with 
minium  only,  because^  although  the  letters  may  be  well  formed 
yet  they  would  not  be  beautiful,  for  they  would  be  too  pale ;  he 
must  therefore  mix  minium  with  vermilion,  that  the  colour 
may  be  brighter.  But  as  I  have  certainly  known  some  persons 
who  are  ignorant  about  this  mixture,  not  knowing  how  much  to 
put  of  one  sort,  or  how  much  of  the  other,  if  they  will  give  their 


S.  AUDEMAR  DE  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  HI 

aut  crocei  colons,  et  mitte  in  ampulam  suprascriptam  quam 
poBtea  pones  super  qnatuor  petras  et  ignem  lentissimum  de 
carbonibus  in  drcuita  ampullae  positis  facias  cooperto  ore  am- 
pnlls  tegula  et  quando  videris  fiimum  ex  ore  ampulae  exire 
blauum,  cooperi ;  si  vero  fumus  crocei  colons,  iterum  cooperi ; 
quando  autem  exierit  fumus  rubeus  quasi  ut  est  yermiculum, 
sic  toUe  ab  igne  et  habebis  yermiculum  optimum  in  ipsa  am- 
pula. 

175.  Alio  modo  ad  faciendum  vermiculum. — ^Accipe  ampul- 
lam  yitream  et  vivum  argentum  et  sulphur,  et  libra  ita  ut  duae 
partes  suit  de  sulphure  et  tertia  de  argento  vivo,  et  intus  pone 
ut  veniat  usque  coUum  ampullae  et  primitus  lini  ampulam  de 
ar^la  optima  tribus  vicibus  et  intus  pone  supradictas  parte43, 
ita  ut  sulfuris  pars  subtus  sit  bene  diminuta  et  argenti  vivi  pars 
supersit  et  rubeam  tegulam  bene  diminutam  a  coUo  usque  ad 
summum  mitte  et  super  tres  lapides  ampulam  in  igne  de  car- 
bonibus et  dimitte  combuere  donee  ignis  inde  exeat  glaucus  et 
tunc  satis  est. 

176.  De  miniofaciendo  aliter  sandaraco  dicta. — Nisi  fallor  mi- 
nium id  est  sandaracum  et  album  plumbum  id  est  cerusa  unius 
nature  sunt,  n  in  ignem  mittas  cerusam,  nomen  et  colorem  et 
fortitudinem  accipit  quia  quanto  plus  ustum  fuerit  plus  rubet, 
etquo  minus  ustum  plus  pristinum  colorem  retinet,  id  est  albor 
rem  vel  pallorem  et  ponendo  ipsum  in  materiis  teritur  cum 
aqua  gummata  numquam  vero  cum  ovo.  In  pergamenis  vero 
poni  potest  cum  ovo  distemperatum,  sed  in  lignis  cum  oleo. 

177.  Qu4ymodo  misceaiur  minium  cum  vermiculo.  —  Si  quis 
codicem  iUuminare  satagit  non  id*  de  sole  minio  debet  facere 
quia  quamvis  litterae  forent  bene  formate  pulchre  tamen  non 
esaent  quia  nimio  pallore  essent  obfuscate,  ideo  minium  cum 
Termiculo  misceat  ut  pulchriores  sint  Verum  tamen  quia 
aliquos  de  hac  commixtione  novi  certe,  nescientes  quantum  ex 
uno  nee  quantum  ex  altero  mittere  deberent  si  mihi  assint  ani- 
mo  de  boc  intimabo,  quod  mihi  notum  est,  ut  teneant    Si  ipsum 


142  MANTSCRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEGUB. 

attention  to  me  I  will  teach  them  all  that  is  known  to  me,  that 
they  may  remember  it  If  the  yermilioo  is  very  good  and  new, 
I  put  two  parts  of  it»  and  scarcely  the  third  part  of  minium. 
But  if  the  minium  is  dusky  and  yery  old,  pat  a  half  or  a  third 
part  of  the  vermilion,  and  make  the  remainder  of  minium ;  and 
you  must  know,  that  the  older  the  vermilion  is  by  nature,  the 
darker  and  the  less  useful  it  is ;  and  the  darker  it  is,  the  less  of 
it  must  be  added  to  the  minium.  When  you  have  ground 
this  minium  thus  cautiously  mixed  with  vermilion  well  in  clear 
water,  if  you  wish  to  write  with  it  immediately,  allow  it  to  dry 
completely,  and  then  distemper  the  same  with  stale  white  of  egg, 
namely,  three  or  four  days  old.  And  if  yon  wish  to  write  or 
paint  with  this  minium,  which  will  shine  with  a  sort  of  vamishy 
brilliancy,  you  must  mix  but  a  little  clear  water,  or  nothing  at 
all,  with  the  above-mentioned  white  of  egg,  with  whidi  you  dis- 
temper the  minium  ;  and  then  lay  it  sufficiently  thickly  on  the 
parchment  while  you  are  writing,  that  is  to  say,  you  must  punt 
the  letter  thick ;  and  if,  after  this,  it  should  happen  that  the  work 
does  not  shine,  you  may  know  that  this  is  to  be  imputed  to  tihe 
quality  of  the  air,  or  the  weather,  if  it  be  damp.  And  you  must 
know  this  also,  that  if  it  is  dried  at  the  fire,  it  will  undoubtedly 
shine ;  but  it  will  turn  black  in  the  sun.  The  miniiim  may  be 
either  fresh  or  have  been  prepared  for  some  time. 
.  178.  H(jw  mimum  is  to  be  wcuthed. — But  i^  when  you  are 
illuminating  any  book,  the  minium  is  old.  and  of  a  dirty  colour, 
you  must  wash  it  thus.  Take  water  and  wine,  so  that  the  third 
or  the  fourth  part  may  be  of  wine,  and  put  it  into  a  horn  with 
the  minium,  and  mix  it  well,  stirring  it  Afterwards  let  it 
rest.  When  it  has  settled  and  is  fiillen  to  the  bottom,  throw 
out  the  water  and  the  wine',  and  pour  in  a  suffident  quantity  of 
white  of  egg,  and  use  it 

179.  Ofsinapis. — Sinopis,  as  I  have  heard,  is  a  oertun  ooloor 
redder  than  vermilion,  so  that  when  the  vermilion  itself  is  very 
precious  on  account  of  its  beauty,  the  heralds  praising  it  call  it 
sinopis,  although  the  vermilion  only  resembles  it  on  account  ct 
its  redness. 


S.  AUDEMAB  D£  C0L0RIBU8  FACIENDIS.  143 

?eniiieiilum  valde  optimum  et  novum  fuerit  duas  partes  ex  illo 
et  Tix  tertiam  partem  ex  minio.  Si  vero  minium  fiiscum  et 
yetnssimum  fuerit  dimediam  seu  tertiam  partem  ex  illo  vermi* 
culo  mitte  et  reliquas  de  minio  fadto.  Et  sciendum  est  quod 
vermiculum  natura  quanto  vetustior  tanto  nigrior  et  minus  utilis 
etquantonigrior  est  tanto  minus  de  illo  mittendum  est  in  minio. 
Quod  minium  sic  ex  vermiculo  caute  mixtium  postquam  bene 
triveris  cum  aqua  clara.  Si  statim  ex  inde  scribere  volueris 
permitte  penitus  prius  exsiccare  deinde  cum  vetusta  glarea  ovi 
trium  scilicet  aut  qnatuor  dierum  ipsum  idem  distempera.  £t  si 
tibi  accidat  scripturam  vel  picturam  ex  eodem  minio  facere  velle 
quasi  que  vemiciata  nitore  suUuceat  glarea  suprascript®  qua 
ipsum  minium  distemperas  parum  aqus  darae  vel  nil  omnino 
oommisceas  et  exinde  inter  scribendum  sufficienter  pergameno 
suppone  crassam  scilicet  litteram  debes  facere.  Sane  si  post  hoc 
opus  ipsum  non  hicere  contingent  noveris  hoc  imputandum  quali- 
tati  rel  aurae  vel  tempori  si  humidum  sit  Hoc  autem  scire  debes 
quod  si  ad  ignem  exsiccetur  procul  dubio  venitescet.  Sole  vero 
iuscabitur  minium  potest  esse  vel  noviter  vel  ex  multo  tempore 
paratumsit 


178.  Quomodo  lavatur  minium,  —  Si  autem  cum  aliquem 
libmm  illuminas  minium  vetus  sit  et  turpis  colons.  Debes  ita 
lavari.  Sume  aquam  et  vinum,  et  ita  ut  tertia  vel  quarta  pars 
sit  vinum  et  mitte  in  comu  cum  minio  et  commove  bene  mis* 
cendo.  Postea  permitte  quiescere.  Cum  autem  sedatum  et  ad 
fundom  deductum  erit  eice  aquam  et  vinum  et  mitte  glaream 
quantum  opus  sit  et  operetur. 

179.  De  ftnoptVfe.-^inopia  est  quidam  color  magis  rubeua 
ut  didici  quam  vermiculum.  Unde  et  ipsum  vermiculum  sit 
valde  preciosum  in  pulchritndine  fuerit  quasi  laudando  scutarii 
sinopidem  vocant  cum  tantum  modo  vermiculum  in  rubeo  te- 
neat  ejus  umilitudinem. 


144  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGTJE. 

180.  How  the  colour  olchusj  otherwise  membrana^  is  made. — 
The  colour  olchus,  otherwise  membrana,  is  so  called  firom  its 
appearing  like  the  human  flesh  on  the  face,  the  hands,  and  the 
other  parts  of  the  body.  It  is  made  of  red  or  vermilion,  and 
white  or  ceruse,  and  he  who  has  no  vennilion,  must  make  it  of 
minium  and  white  mixed  together  in  proper  proportions  of  each, 
according  to  the  greater  or  less  ruddiness,  or  paleness,  or  white* 
ness,  which  he  wishes  to  give  to  the  naked  figure,  in  painting  it 
And  because  a  greenish  colour  is  proper  for  it,  mix  a  little  green 
with  it,  in  proper  proportion  as  you  may  think  proper.  And  if 
you  have  no  green,  mix  orpiment  with  lazur,  and  you  will 
have  a  green  which  you  may  use.  Others  also  coU^  the 
flowers  of  a  certain  herb,  the  name  of  which  has  escaped  me, 
which  they  grind  or  mix  with  the  olchus,  and  thus  make  the 
colour. 

181.  How  lake  is  made, — ^Take  filings  or  scrapings  of  Brazil 
wood,  and  let  them  boil  over  the  fire  in  a  clean  vase  with  red 
wine.  Then  add  lake  distempered  with  urine,  and  let  them 
boil  together,  and  having  done  this,  strain  and  squeeze  tliem. 
Then  take  alum  and  mix  with  the  other  ingredients  in  the  vase 
over  the  fire,  and  stir  it  a  little.  .  Then  remove  it  from  the  fire, 
and  pour  the  contents  into  a  basin.  Then  grind  it  well  upon 
a  stone,  and  collect  the  lake  together  and  let  it  dry  in  the  sun. 
Afterwards  preserve  it  in  a  box. 

182.  Item. — How  to  make  sinapis  de  mellana. — ^If  you  wish 
to  make  sinopis  de  mellana,  take  lac,  that  is,  the  gum  of  ivy, 
with  which  parcium  is  dyed,  and  grind  it  very  fine,  and  temper 
it  with  vinegar  or  urine.  Then,  adding  wheat  flour  well  cleansed 
from  the  bran,  make  it  into  little  cakes,  and  bake  it  in  an  un- 
glazed  jar ;  and,  while  it  is  being  baked,  put  a  little  of  it  upon 
a  stick  with  a  twig,  until  you  see  that  it  is  of  a  very  good  colour. 
If  you  wish  to  have  it  very  red,  bake  it  but  little ;  if  less  red, 
bake  it  more. 

183.  As  before, —  To  make  the  same  sinopis  in  a  different  man- 
ner.— If  you  wish  to  make  excellent  sinopis,  take  lac,  that  is, 
the  gum  of  ivy,  and  madder,  and  boil  it  for  a  short  time  in  a 


S.  AUDEMAR  D£  COLOKIBUS  FACIENBIS.  145 

180.  Qaomodo  camponitur  okhtu  color  seu  membrana. — 01- 
chus  color  aliter  membrana  yocatur  qui  sicuti  humana  caro  in 
fade  in  manibus  et  aliis  partibus  et  membris  corporis  demon- 
stratur.  Componitur  ex  rubeo  seu  vermiculo  et  albo  seu  ce- 
nisa.  £t  qui  non  haberet  yermiculum  componeret  ex  minio 
et  albo  simul  ad  proportionatas  quantitates  utriusque  ipsorum 
juxta  majorem  vel  minorem  rubedinem  vel  palliditatem,  vel 
albedinem  quam  dare  voluerit  nudo  ymagini  pingens  ipsam. 
£t  quia  virideus  color  in  ipso  convenit  aliquantulum  viridis  per 
debitam  portionem  sicut  placuerit.  £t  si  viride  non  babetur 
auripigmentum  cum  lazurio  misceat  et  viride  babebit  quo  uti 
poterit  alii  colligunt  coUigunt  (sic)  etiam  cujusdem  herbe  flores 
cujus  nomen  excidit  quos  cum  olcho  terunt  seu  miscent  et  colo- 
rem  inde  fadt. 

181.  Qaomodo  efficitur  lacha. — Accipe  Bradlis  ligni  lima- 
taram  rel  rasuram,  et  in  uno  vase  mundo  cum  vino  rubeo  per- 
mitte  ad  ignem  bullire.  Deinde  lacham  cum  urina  distemper- 
atam  cum  ea  pone  et  simul  bulliant  et  hoc  facto  colantur  et 
exprimantur.  Postea  alumen  accipe  et  misce  cum  eis  in  vase 
ad  ignem  existente  et  move  parumper.  Tunc  ab  igne  toUe  et 
m  scutella  mitte.  Deinde  super  petram  fortiter  tere  et  collige 
et  ad  solem  siccare  permitte.  Postea  ad  servandum  in  forulo  vel 
pixide  pone* 

182.  Item  de  faciendo  sinopide  de  mellana. — Si  vis  facere 
sinopidem  de  mellana.  Acdpe  de  lacca  id  est  gumma  ederse 
de  qua  parcium  tingitur  et  optime  tere  et  distempera  cum  aceto 
vel  urina.  Deinde  fiuinam  triticeam  bene  a  furfure  mundatam 
adjungens,  &c  quasi  pastulas  et  coque  in  oUa  rudi  et  frequenter 
cum  coquetur  ex  eo  cum  festuca  super  virgulam  tuam  pone, 
donee  videas  optimi  chloris  esse  et  si  multum  rubeimi  volueris 
minus  ooque  si  minus  rubeum  magis  coque. 

183.  SictU  supra  de  eodem  synopide  aliter  faciendo, — Si  vis 
facere  optimum  sinopidem,  accipe  laccam  id  est  gummam  ederae 
etWarandamet  coque  in  ollam  aliquantulum  cum  aqua  postea 

VOL.  I.  L 


146  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGTJE, 

jar  with  water,  and  afterwards  take  it  out  of  the  jar,  and  let  it 
cool  a  little.  Then  grind  it  well  in  a  mortar,  and  stram  it 
through  a  cloth,  squeezing  [it  well  out,  and  afterwards  heat  it 
carefully  in  a  basin  or  saucer,  taking  care  not  to  let  it  boil,  bat 
only  simmer.  And  while  it  is  on  the  fire  put  it  frequently  with 
a  twig  upon  your  rod  to  try  it ;  if  it  is  thick  enough,  remoye  it 
from  the  fire,  and  let  it  cool  and  harden,  so  that  you  may  be  able 
to  make  it  into  cakes.  Having  made  it  into  cakes,  cut  it  up,  and 
put  it  into  a  small  hole,  and  keep  it  for  use. 

184.  Of  lake. — In  the  month  of  March,  cut  branches  of  ivy 
crosswise  in  various  places,  or  pierce  them  with  a  bodkin,  and 
there  will  exude  a  liquid,  which  you  must  collect  every  third 
day.  This  is  boiled  with  urine,  and  turns  to  a  blood  colour, 
which  is  also  called  lacha,  with  which  the  skins,  conunonly  called 
parcie,  are  dyed  with  alum.  The  above-mentioned  liquid  is 
useful  for  many  purposes. 

186.  Of  writing^  orpaintinff,  with  tin, — ^When  you  are  going 
to  make  gold  or  silver  writing  or  painting,  if  you  have  neither 
of  them,  that  is  to  say,  neither  gold  nor  silver,  you  must  make 
use. of  the  following  process.  Cast  very  pure  tin  into  strips  of 
half  a  foot  or  little  more  in  length,  namely,  like  those  of  which 
glass  windows  are  made.  Then  scrape  with  a  knife  one  or 
more  of  them,  as  many  as  you  like,  into  very  small  pieces, 
until  they,  or  it,  are,  or  is,  entirely  scraped  away ;  and  then  put 
the  shavings  into  a  mortar  made  of  very  hard  metal»  namely,  of 
that  of  which  bells  are  made,  which  must  be  prepared  for  this 
purpose,  and  fixed  in  a  plank.  You  must  also  have  a  muUer  or 
pestle  of  the  same  metal,  wliich  must  revolve  in  the  mortar. 
Afterwards  put  these  clippings  into  the  mortar,  and  pour  water 
upon  them,  and  grind  them  by  pulling  a  thong  backwards  and 
forwards ;  but  when  the  muUer  begins  to  stick  a  little,  so  that 
it  will  not  turn,  take  it  out,  and  pour  or  tip  out  the  water  and 
tin  into  a  very  clean  vase ;  and  then,  letting  the  tin  remain  iu 
the  vase,  pour  the  water  cautiously  off,  without  pouring  away 
the  tin.  Afterwards  let  the  tin  dry  by  the  fire  or  in  the  sun. 
Then  put  it  on  a  very  thick  linen  cloth,  and  make  the  fine  parts 


S..AUD£1£AR  DE  GOLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  147 

extrahes  ab  olla  et  aliquantulum  refirigerari  permitte.  Deinde 
io  mortariolo  fortiter  tere  et  per  pannum  extorquendo  cola,  et 
postea  in  bacina  vel  in  testa  coque  cum  diligentia  cavens  ne 
balliat  sed  tantum  fremat.  £t  dum  coquitur  frequenter  cum 
festaca  super  virgulam  tuam  pone  temptando ;  si  satis  spissum 
ab  igne  tolle  et  permitte  frigescere  et  durescere.  Itaque  inde 
pofisis  pastillos  facere.  £t  factis  pastillis  excisea  et  pone  in 
forulo  et  serva  usui.  ^ 

184.  De  lacca. — Mense  Marcio  ramas  in  diyersis  locis  incide 
de  edera  extransverso  vet  cum  aculeo  perfora  et  egredietur 
liquor  quern  de  tertio  in  tercium  diem  collige  qui  cum  urina 
coquitur  et  in  sanguineum  colorem  vertetur,  qui  et  lacha  di- 
citnr  ex  quapelles  alutine  tingentur  que  vulgo  parcie  dicuntur. 
Liquor  superdictum  ad  multa  valet. 

185.  De  starmea  tcriptura  vel  pictura. — Auream  sen  argen- 
team  scripturam  yel  picturam  facturus,  si  neutrum  habeas, 
scilicet  nee  aumm  nee  argentum  hac  utere  compositura.  Stan- 
nmn  purissimum  funde  in  laminas  quas  dimidii  pedis  vel  paulo 
plus  longitudinis  fac  ad  instar  scilicet  earum  ex  quibus  fenestre 
vitree  componuntur.  Deinde  unam  earum  vel  plures  quot  vis 
cum  cultello  vel  quo  instrumento  necesse  fuerit  minutatum 
erade  vel  errade  quo  ad  usque  tota  consumpta  vel  consumpts 
siut  Et  deinceps  ipsas  encisuras  in  mortariolo  pone  quod  de 
metallo  durisnmo  sit,  quo  scilicet  campanae  fiunt  ad  hoc  opus 
parato  et  in  ligno  infixo.  Habeas  simulque  molam  seu  pistil- 
lam  qui  in  mortariolo  vertitur,  de  eodem  metallo.  Postea  in 
ipso  mortario  pone  ipsas  incisuras.  £t  super  ipsas  infiinde 
aquam  et  sic  eas  mole  trahendo  corrigiam  et  retrahendo  seu 
relaxendo.  Ubi  autem  mola  stare  ceperit  paululum  nee  jam 
posse  verti  extrahe  illam  et  aquam  et  stannum  in  mundissimo 
vase  rejecta  vel  reversa.  Et  ipsum  stannum  retinendo  in  ipso 
vase  eice  caute  aquam  absque  ejiciendo  stannum.  Et  postea 
permitte  ipsum  stannum  siccari  ad  ignem  vel  ad  solem.  Deinde 
panno  liueo  valde  spisso  indue  ac  fac  transire  subtiles  minucias ; 

l2 


148  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGXJE. 

pass  through ;  but  the  coarser  parts,  which  will  not  pass  through 
the  cloth,  put  back  into  the  mortar,  and  grind  as  you  did  before : 
and  you  must  always  make  the  finer  parts  pass  through  a  cloth 
as  before,  and  then  put  them  with  the  other  similar  parts ;  and 
so,  when  you  hare  reduced  the  tin  to  a  very  clean  powder,  draw 
upon  the  parchment  and  upon  the  cloth  flowers  and  images,  and 
whatever  else  you  like.  And  in  painting  you  must  put  glae 
upon  the  places  which  you  wish  to  gild  or  silver,  with  a  brush 
of  ass's  hair,  which  glue  you  must  thus  make  from  ox-skins : — 
186.  How  to  make  glue  from  the  skin  of  an  ox  or  a  cote— 
Take  the  skin  of  an  ox  or  a  cow,  as  thick  as  you  can  find  it, 
which  has  already  been  tanned  for  shoes,  and  put  it  in  a  jar 
and  pour  water  upon  it,  and  make  it  boil  over  the  fire  from 
daybreak  on  a  summer's  day  until  nearly  the  third  hour  of  the 
day,  pouring  water  into  it  when  necessary,  or,  when  it  is  much 
diminished,  pour  ofi^  the  water,  which  has  boiled  so  long,  and 
pour  in  clean  water,  and  make  it  boil  again  until  the  sixth 
hour.  Then  pour  off  this  water,  which  will  be  nearly  all  eva- 
porated, and  again  pour  clean  water  into  the  jar  over  the  same 
leather,  and  do  not  renew  it  more  than  once  or  twice  more. 
And  take  great  care  not  to  let  it  boil  over,  and  then,  having 
boiled  it  down  to  one-third,  pour  it  into  a  vase,  and  leave  it  to 
cool  all  that  day  and  night.  In  the  morning  of  the  next  day^ 
if  it  is  coagulated  in  the  vase,  put  your  finger  upon  it  If  any 
part  of  it  remams  sticking  to  your  finger,  you  may  know  that  it 
is  not  good,  and  may  throw  it  away  as  refuse.  Afterwards  fill 
up  the  jar  with  water  as  before,  in  order  to  boil  it  with  the 
leather ;  and  you  must  not  fill  it  up  any  more,  but  take  all 
possible  care  not  to  let  it  boil  over.  You  will  know  when  it  is 
good  by  (after  you  have  boiled  it  sufficiently  and  let  it  cool) 
putting  your  finger  upon  it  as  before,  to  see  whether  it  is  hard ; 
and  the  harder  you  find  it,  the  better  you  may  know  it  to  be. 
Afterwards  putting  a  small  portion  of  it  into  an  earthen  vase, 
set  it  on  the  coals  and  make  it  rather  warm.  Then,  removing 
the  vase  firom  the  fire,  keep  it  at  a  moderate  heat  over  a  slow 
fire  made  of  a  few  pieces  of  charcoal,  lest  it  should  be  con* 


S.  ATJDEMAR  BE  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  149 

grosslores  vero  quae  per  pannum  transire  non  poterunt  iterum 
in  ipso  mortario  mitte  et  molle  sicut  antea  feceras.  £t  semper 
minutiorem  partem  per  pannum  transire  facias  sicut  dictum  est 
et  repone  cum  similibus  minutiis  et  sic  postquam  in  mundissi- 
mum  pulverem  redegeris  stannum  protrahe  super  pergamenum 
et  super  pannum  flores  et  imagines  et  quodcumque  opus  volu- 
eris.  Et  in  ipso  opere  per  loca  que  de  aurare  vel  argenteare 
Yoles,  pones  viscum  cum  pincello  asinino  quod  viscum  sic  facies 
de  corio  bovis. 

186.  Quomado  viscum  vel  gluten  Jit  de  corio  bovis  vel 
vacccB, — Corium  bovis  vel  yaccae  quod  spissius  invenire  poteris 
jam  ad  calcimaenta  instinctum  mitte  in  ollam  simul  que  aquam 
et  a  primo  deluculo  usque  ad  horam  pene  tertiam  temporis 
aestatis  fenrere  fac  ad  ignem,  aquam  infundendo  cum  opus  erit 
vel  cum  comminuta  fuerit.  Postea  projicies  ipsarum  aquam 
que  tandiu  fervuerit  et  infimdas  claram  aquam  et  iterum  fer- 
vere  &cies  usque  ad  boram  sextam.  Postea  ipsam  aquam 
pene  consumptum  projice  atque  iterum  in  oUa  cum  corio  eodem 
aquam  claram  mitte  nee  augeas  plusquam  semel  aut  bis  sed 
diUgenter  observa  ne  ex  inundando  exiliat  tunc  usque  ad  ter- 
tiam partem  coctam  ipsam  in  vase  recipe  et  reirigerari  per- 
mitte  tota  die  ilia  et  nocte.  Mane  die  altera  si  coagulatur 
invanis  digitum  suppone.  Si  digito  aliqua  pars  adhserens  reman- 
serit,  scias  non  esse  bonam  et  projice  illud  velut  stercora. 
Post  hoc  iterum  aqua  ollam  implebis  similiter  ut  cum  eodem 
corio  excoquatur^  nee  augebis  amplius  sed  cum  qua  possis 
diligencia  custodi  ne  exiliat  sciens  quod  bona  erit  si  digitum, 
postquam  sufficienter  buUierit  et  frigidari  permiseris,  suppo- 
sueris  ut  supra  et  durum  inveneris,  etquanto  duriorem  senseris 
tanto  meliorem  esse  scias.  Postea  sic  aliquam  partem  de  ea 
sumptam  in  testeo  vasculo  pone  eo  super  carbones  aliquan- 
talum  fac  fervere.  Ex  igne  autem  in  vasculum  quem  ad 
levem  ignem  paucorum  carbonum  ad  moderatam  caliditatem 
tone  ne  congelitur  pincellum  minimum  ad  hoc  paratum  ea 
intinge  et  super  pergamenum  et  super  pannum  quidquid  pro- 
trahendo  vel  de  protractis  volueris  fac  et  linias  atque  statim  ut 


150  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEOUE. 

gealed,  and  dip  into  it  a  very  small  paint-brush  made  for  this 
purpose,  and  draw  on  the  parchment  or  canvas  whatever  you 
like,  or  fill  in  any  former  drawings ;  and  as  soon  as  you  liaye 
drawn  your  paint-brush  over  a  few  places,  before  the  glue  is 
congealed,  quickly,  and  without  delay,  in  order  that  the  tin 
may  adhere  before  the  glue  dries,  sprinkle  plenty  of  the  pow« 
dered  tin  over  it,  so  that  none  whatever  of  those  parts,  which 
you  spread  over  with  the  paint-brush  full  of  glue  or  cement, 
may  remain  bare,  or  not  covered  with  the  powdered  tin.  And 
so  go  on  by  degrees  with  the  remaining  parts  of  the  work, 
until  you  have  completely  filled  in  all  that  you  intended  to 
colour  with  it  Lastly,  collect  and  put  by  the  superfluous  powder 
of  the  tin  which  is  lying  scattered  about  here  and  there  on  the 
paper,  not  adhering  to  the  work,  and  leave  your  work  until  the 
next  day  to  dry. 

188.  How  to  know  good  tin} — Good  tin  is  known  as  follows. 
Put  a  plate  of  tin  to  your  ear,  and  bend  it  to  and  fro  several 
times  with  both  hands,  as  if  you  wished  to  know  whether  it  was 
broken,  and  if  it  rings,  that  is,  creaks  or  crackles,  it  is  good. 
Also,  if  you  cut  a  strip  from  the  plate  with  a  knife,  and  do  not 
entirely  separate  it,  but  bend  it  to  and  fro  six  or  seven  times,  as 
if  you  were  going  to  break  it  ofi;  and  if  it  does  not  break,  you 
will  by  that  means  prove  the  siud  tin  to  be  very  good. 

189.  How  to  make  ink* — If  you  wish  to  make  ink,  you 
must  take,  they  say,  the  bark  of  blackthorn,  and  when  you 
have  torn  it  off  clean  from  the  wood,  you  must  fill  a  vase 
with  it,  mixed  also  with  plenty  of  water,  which  must  not  be  re- 
newed, and  put  it  on  the  fire,  and  let  the  bark  boil  down  oyer 
the  fire  like  beef,  and  then  take  it  out,  and  squeeze  out  of  it 
the  water  which  it  has  soaked  up,  and  let  the  water  boil  quickly 
over  the  fire  till  it  is  reduced  to  one-half.  Afiierwards,  pour 
it  into  the  first  vase,  and  let  it  boil  still,  and  when  it  is  re- 
duced, pour  it  back  into  the  other  vase,  and  make  it  boil  away. 

I  No.  187  is  missing  in  the  original. 

9  The  word  atnunentum  is  written  in  the  mai^tn  of  this  chapter  in  the 
original* 


S.  AUDEMAK  DE  C0L0KIBU8  FACIENDIS.  151 

aliqiiaBtuliiin  in  aliquibus  locis  pincellum  traxeris  priusque 
congeletnr  glatem  cito  non  tardando  ut  stannum  tenere  possit 
et  antequam  siccetur,  faabundanter  stannum  pulyerisatum  super 
spargas  et  ita  ut  nil  omnino  de  his  qu»  cum  pincello  de  ipso 
yisco  Tel  glutine  linieris  vacuum  remaneat  quin  stanno  pul- 
yerizato  oooperiatur.  Deinde  sic  fac  paulatim  procedendo  ad 
reliquas  partes  operis  usquequo  intoto  compleveris  quod  per- 
ficere  ex  eo  decreverit.  Demum  stanni  pulverem  quod  super 
habundayerit  et  hac  illuc  dispersum  erit  non  adherens  operi, 
oolligaa  et  recipe  et  opus  tuum  usque  in  crastinum  siccari 
permitte. 


188.  De  eoffnitione  boni  stannL — Sic  autcm  bonum  stannum 
cognoscitur.  Accipe  lamina  stanni  juxta  aurem  tuam  et  cum 
utraque  manu  plices  sepius  illam  quasi  qui  yelis  scire  an  facta  sit 
et  osculta  diligenter  et  si  tinuit  id  est  stridet  yel  crisnat  bonum 
est,  et  si  de  lamina  cum  cultello  crispam  sceyeris  nee  tamen 
omnino  abrumperis  sed  quasi  qui  yelis  cam  frangere,  sexcies 
vel  septies  plicueris  et  sine  fractura  remanserit  optimum  fore 
dictum  stannum  isto  modo  comprobayerit. 

189.  De  incatisto  quo  modo  efficitur. — Quisquis  igitur  in* 
caustum  conficere  yoluerit  sumens  ut  aiunt  corticem  nigrae 
spinae  quam  cum  de  ligno  ad  purum  eyulserit  impleat  inde  vas 
mixta  pariter  habundantissime  et  semel  tantum  cum  aqua  qua 
imposita  igni  sinat  corticem  dequoqui  more  camis  yaccinsB  eo 
que  extracto  extorqueat  ab  eoquam  ebiberat  aquam  et  ipsam 
aquam  igni  prestolatur  excoqui  ad  medietatem.  Postea  ipsam 
transfundat  in  vas  primus  et  adhuc  bullire  permittat  et  cum 
oomminuta  fiierit  refiindat  in  aliud  yas  et  ebullire  faciat.  Et 
cum  ad  ultimum  iterum  comminuta  erit  eyacuet  in  minimo 


152  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOUE. 

And  when  lastly  it  is  again  reduced,  empty  it  into  a  yery  small 
vase,  and  make  it  boil  away.  And  when  the  ink  bas  become 
thick  like  porridge,  take  it  off  the  fire,  because  it  is  suflficiently 
boiled,  fiut  when  you  wish  to  prepare  it  for  writing,  take 
some  part  of  it,  and  put  it  into  an  earthen  vessel  with  doable 
the  quantity  of  wine,  and  take  great  care,  when  it  begins  to 
get  hot,  to  throw  away  the  impurities  which  sink  to  the  bottom, 
separating  them  from  the  ink  by  straining  through  a  cloth. 
But  what  cannot  be  omitted  is,  that  care  must  be  taken  not  to 
let  it  run  over  the  edge  of  the  vase,  for  otherwise  you  will  lose 
a  great  part  of  your  labour.  But  when,  as  I  had  begun  to  say, 
it  is  still  hot,  mix  up  with  it  two  pieces  of  burnt  atramentnm, 
and  after  four  days  or  a  week  you  will  be  able  to  write  with  it. 
And  if  the  ink  should  remain  pale,  or  soak  the  parchment  like 
water,  put  it  on  the  fire  again,  mixing  with  it  a  little  incaustum 
and  atramentum.  But  do  not  throw  it  away  whUe  it  b  still 
hot,  for  it  is  atramentum. 

190.  How  to  lay  gold  on  a  uxdl,  or  on  parchments. — ^If  you 
wish  to  lay  gold  on  a  wall,  or  on  paper,  or  on  wood,  or  upon  a 
block  of  marble,  grind  gypsum  by  itself  separately.  Then 
grind  brown  separately  in  the  same  manner,  and  take  three 
parts  of  gypsum  and  one  of  brown,  and  take  glue  made  from 
parchment  or  leather,  and  distemper  them  together,  mixing 
the  said  parts,  and  lay  upon  it  [the  object  to  be  gilded] 
one  coat  of  this  mixture  with  a  paint-brush,  and  then  ano- 
ther; and  so  lay  three  or  four  coats.  And  when  the  last 
is  dry,  scrape  it  with  a  knife  or  other  iron  instrument  fitted 
for  the  purpose,  so  that  it  may  be  very  smooth;  and  then 
burnish  it  with  a  tooth  or  a  stone,  and  lay  over  it,  vrith  the 
paint-brush,  only  one  very  thin  coat  of  the  gypsum,  and  let  it 
dry.  When  it  is  dry,  lay  the  gold  upon  that  mordant,  as  you 
have  been  taught  Afterwards  lay  upon  the  gold  a  very  fine 
cloth  that  has  been  two  or  three  times  warmed ;  or  apply  it  as 
I  do,  not  so  warm,  in  order  that  the  gold  may  be  the  better 
polished. 

191.  Also  how  to  lay  on  gold. — ^Take  gypsum  and  grind  it 


•w^- 


S.  AUDEBIAB  DE  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  153 

vase  et  ebullire  faclat.  Cum  que  ipsum  incaustum  in  modum 
pultium  densatum  fiierit  extrahat  illud  ab  igne,  quia  ad  ple- 
num est  decoctnm,  cum  vero  ad  scribendum  volueris  aptare 
iolles  ab  eo  aliquam  portionem  pones  in  vas  fictile,  duplum  que 
yini,  solicitate  que  procaveat  ut  cum  ceperit  fenrere  sordes  in 
fiindo  immergentes  rejiciat  separando  eas  ab  incausto  colando 
ipsum  per  telam.  Hoc  vero  quod  pone  preteriri  poterit  ob- 
servet  ne  vel  tunc  vel  quando  confectatur  in  caloris  ora  vasis 
transeat.  AUoquin  magna  parte  quassabitur  suo  labore.  Cum 
vero  ut  dicere  ceperam  ad  hue  calet  attramenti  duo  frustra 
cremata  oommisceat  quatuor  que  diebus  vel  ebdomada  exacta 
inde  scribere  poterit.  Et  si  in  pallore  perduraverit  vel  perga- 
menum  transient  more  aque  appone  iterum  igni  miscendo 
aliquantulum  incausti  et  attramenti  sed  tunc  cum  ad  hue  efier* 
fuerit  non  abiciat  quod  attramentum  est. 


190.  Quomodo  in  muro  vel  in  pergameno  ponitur  aurum. — Si 
vis  aurum  ponere  in  muro  vel  in  carta  vel  in  ligno  vel  super 
petra  marmorea,  tere  fortiter  gypsum  per  se  separatim. 
Deinde  brunum  similiter  teris  separatim  facies  que  de  gypso 
tres  partes  et  quatuor  de  bruno.  Accipies  que  colam  de  per- 
gamenis  vel  de  corio  factum  et  distemperes  simul,  miscendo 
illas  supradictas  partes,  facies  que  de  ipsa  mixtura  unum 
lectum  de  super  cum  pincello  et  ad  hue  de  super  alium.  Et 
sic  facies  tres  vel  quatuor  linitiones :  cum  vero  siccum  fuerit 
rades  cultello  vel  alio  ferro  ad  hoc  parato  ita  quod  sit  bene 
adequatum  deinde  bumias  dente  vel  petra  et  cum  pincello  de 
super  tantum  una  vice  trahe  de  ipso  gypso  postea  siccabitur. 
Postquam  siccatum  fuerit  pones  de  super  ea  distemperatura 
tua  aurum  sicut  doctus  es.  Postea  pannum  delicatissimum 
super  aurum  duabus  vel  tribus  vicibus  calefactam  pones,  vel 
sicut  ego  fado  minus  cale£sictum,  ad  modum  vel  melius  polia- 
tur,  super  eum  pone. 

191.  Item  de  ponendo  auro. — Accipe  gypsum  et  mola  eum 


154  MANTTSCKIFTS  OF  JEHAK  LE  BEGUE. 

well  with  water.  Then  take  your  glue  which  is  made  of  holl' 
skin  and  mix  with  it  a  little  white  of  egg,  and  distemper  the 
gypsum.  But  when  you  wish  to  lay  on  the  gold,  coTer  the 
place  with  gypsum  with  a  paint-brush,  and  let  it  dry.  Do 
this  three  times.  Then  scrape  it,  that  it  may  be  smooth,  and 
burnish  it,  and  again  lay  another  coat  of  the  glue  or  mordant 
upon  it,  and  then  your  gold  upon  that^  and  remove  the  dirt 
gently  with  cotton,  and  then  let  it  dry.  But  if  you  wish  to 
polish  it,  do  so  with  haematite,  or  with  a  dog's-tooth. 

192.  Alio  how  to  lay  on  gold. — ^Take  brasilium^  newly  dis- 
tempered with  white  of  egg,  well  whipped  with  a  qwoge  or 
otherwise,  and  draw  and  paint  with  it  whaterer  you  like  on 
Yellmn  or  on  any  other  thing  you  wish  to  gild,  and  immedi- 
ately lay  the  gold  upon  it^  and  remove  the  dirt  with  cotton, 
scarcely  touching  it,  and  leave  it  to  dry  for  half  a  day  or  a 
whole  day  if  you  like.  Then  take  a  dogVtooth,  and  be^n  to 
burnish  at  first  gently,  lest  you  should  spoil  it  all,  and  then 
harder,  and  afterwards  so  hard  that  your  forehead  is  wet  with 
perspiration.  And  if  you  wish  to  lay  gold  on  parchment  made 
of  sheep's-skin,  add  a  little  plum-tree  gum,  otherwise  gum 
arabic,  which  is  excellent  for  working  on  any  kind  of  parch- 
ment, namely,  from  calf-skin,  sheep-skin,  and  goat-skin,  as  we 
shall  declare  in  the  following  [recipe].  And  either  kind  of 
gum  must  be  distempered  as  follows  : — 

193.  Tlie  mode  of  tempering  the  gume  for  laying  on  gold, — 
Take  whichever  of  these  gums  you  like,  and  tie  it  up  in  a  very 
clean  linen  cloth,  and  put  it  in  a  glass  vase,  and  let  it  lie  in 
water  for  a  whole  day  and  night,  although  indeed,  if  you  want 
to  make  haste,  you  may  stir  up  the  water  with  your  finger, 
llien  draw  whatever  you  like  on  the  parchment,  and  lay  the 
gold  on  it  as  before  mentioned. 

194.  Of  the  precautions  required  in  gilding. — But  take  notice 
that  you  ought  to  work  in  gold  and  colours  in  a  damp  place 
on  account  of  the  hot  weather,  which,  as  it  is  often  injurions  in 
burnishing  gold,  both  to  the  colours  on  which  the  gold  is  laid 
and  in  [the  operation]  of  gilding,  if  the  work  is  done  on  parch- 


8.  AUDElfAK  IXB  COLORIBUS  FACIENBIS.  155 

fortiter  cum  aqua.  Deinde  accipe  gluten  tuum  quod  fit  de 
taurioo  pinguedine  et  misce  cum  eo  panimper  de  glarea  ovi, 
et  distempera  gypeum.  Ubi  vero  aurum  ponere  volueris  ibi 
cum  pincello  de  gypso  trahes,  dimittes  que  siccare.  Hsec  facies 
tribus  vicibus ;  poetea  raddes  eum  ut  sit  planum  et  burnies ; 
iterum  de  dicto  gldtine  seu  cola  de  super  trahes  et  illico  aurum 
tuum  pones  et  de  cotho  suaviter  turpedines  ipsum  et  ita  dimitte 
siccare  si  yero  polire  eum  vis  de  emate  vel  dente  canino  polies 
ipsum* 

192.  Item  tzd  ponendum  aurum. — Accipe  brasilium  noviter 
distemperatum  cum  glarea  ovi  optime  fracta  cum  spungia  yel 
aliter  et  de  ipso  protrabe  et  pinge  quae  vis  in  pergameno 
vitulino  vel  alio  ubi  ponere  aurum  volueris  et  statim  aurum  de 
super  pone  et  de  cotbo  quasi  non  tangens  turpedine,  dimit- 
tesque  dimidium  diem  siccare  vel  per  totum  diem  si  vis. 
Postea  accipe  dentem  caninum  et  brunire  incipias  primum 
quidem  suaviter  ne  totum  dissipes,  deinde  fortius  postea  tam 
fortiter  ut  irons  tua  sudore  madescat.  Et  si  aurum  in  perga- 
meno de  ariete  ponere  volueris  addes  parumper  de  gumma 
cinea  aliter  gumma  arabica  quae  mirabilis  est  ad  operandum 
in  utroque  pergameno  scilicet  vitulino,  arietino  et  capretino 
sicut  in  sequenti  declarabimus  utrumque  etenim  gummam  dis- 
temperabis  sic. 

193.  Modiu  distemperandi  gummas  ad  ponendum  aurum. — 
Accipies  gummam  qualem  vis  unam  de  duabus  hiis  et  ligabis 
in  pannum  lineum  nitissimum  ponesque  in  vitreo  vase  tota  die 
et  nocte  in  aqua  jacere  vel  certe  si  festinare  vis,  distemperabis 
earn  di^to  tuo  cum  ipsa  aqua.  Sic  que  in  pergamenum  penna 
protrahe  omne  quod  vis  et  illico  pone  aurum  ut  suprascriptum 
est. 

194.  De  advertentiis  habendis  in  panendo  aurum. — Sed  inde 
adverte  quomodo  operari  te  oportet  de  auro,  et  coloribus  in 
humido  loco  propter  calidum  tempus  quod  sicut  sepe  nocet  ad 
bruniendum  aurum  et  ad  colores  de  quibus  aurum  ponitur  et 
de  auro  operari  si  opus  fiat  in  minus  humido  et  nimis  sicco 


156  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BBGT7E. 

ment  that  is  too  dry  and  not  sufficiently  moist ;  so  also  it  is 
injurious  when  the  weather  is  too  dry  and  arid,  or  too  damp, 
while  applying  colours  or  gilding. 

195.  Also  how  to  lay  on  gold. — ^Take  gum  arabic  and  dis- 
temper it  as  aforesaid.  Then  take  gum  ammoniac  distem- 
pered with  hot  water  over  the  fire,  and  mix  it  with  the  gam 
arabic,  and  stir  it  with  your  finger,  and  put  it  in  the  sun,  that 
it  may  be  well  mixed  and  liquefied.  Next,  take  gypsum,  and 
distemper  it  with  white  of  egg,  and  mix  it  with  gum  ammcmiac 
and  gum  arabic.  And  when  you  wish  to  gild  leather  or 
purple  cloth,  or  linen  or  silk  cloths,  stir  it  up  altogether,  and 
draw  beasts  and  birds  and  flowers  upon  them  with  a  very  sharp 
stick,  and  let  them  dry.  Then  take  the  gold,  and  blow  gently 
on  the  flowers,  and  lay  on  the  gold  directly,  and  press  it  down 
with  a  burnishing  tooth  or  stone,  and  burnish  it  as  before. 

196.  Of  certain  kinds  of  gum  or  glue} — ^If  you  hare  not  tiie 
air-bladder  of  a  sea-fish,  cut  up  thick  yellum  in  the  same 
manner,  and  wash  it  Also  wash  carefiilly  three  times  in 
warm  water  the  dried  bones  of  the  head  of  a  pike,  and  boil 
them.  Whichever  of  these  you  boil,  add  to  them  one-third 
part  of  very  clear  gum,  that  is,  gum  arabic,  and  boil  a  little ; 
and  you  may  keep  this  as  long  as  you  will. 

197.  How  and  with  what  vehicles  to  temper  colours  forpaint-^ 
ing  in  books,  — ^When  mixing  colours  ^  for  painting  in  books, 
make  a  vehicle  of  the  clearest  gum  arabic  and  water,  as 
before,  and  mix  with  it  all  colours  except  green  and  ceruse, 
minium,  and  carmine.  Salt  green  is  of  no  use  in  a  book. 
Spanish  green  you  must  temper  with  wine,  and  if  you  wish  to 
shade  it,  add  a  little  of  the  juice  of  sword  grass,  or  cabbage,  or 
leek.  You  must  mix  minium  and  ceruse,  and  carminium,  with 
white  of  egg.  Grind  azure  with  soap,  and  wash  it,  and  mix  it 
with  white  of  egg. 

198.  How  tliat  various  tints  are  made  by  the  mixture  of  the 

1  This  chapter  is  a  paraphrase  of  chap,  zxziii.  of  the  first  book  of  Theo- 
philus,  English  ed. 
*  See  Theophilus,  lib.  i.  cap.  zzziv.  (Eng.  ed.),  of  which  this  is  a  pan- 


S.  AUDEMAR  DE  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  157 

pergameno.     Sic  de  coloribus  vero  operari  et  ponendo  aurum 
in  tempiis  nimis  rigidum  vel  siccum  ac  etiam  minus  humidum. 

195.  Item  ad  ipsum  aurum  ponendum. — Accipe  gummam 
arabicam  et  distempera  ut  dictum  est.  Accipiesque  moniacu- 
Inm  distemperatum  cum  aqua  calida  ad  ignem  et  misces  cum 
arabica,  distemperabis  que  digito  tuo  et  pones  ad  solem  ut 
bene  distemperetur  et  liquefiat.  Fostea  accipe  gypsum  et  dis- 
tempera cum  glarea  ovi  et  clarum  misce  cum  moniculo  et  ara- 
bica.  Et  quando  aurum  in  corio  vel  in  purpura  vel  in  pellis 
lineis  vel  siricis  ponere  volueris  movebis  omnia  simul  et  facies 
bestias  et  volucres  et  flores  cum  baculo  acutissime  de  super 
dimittesque  siccum.  Postea  accipe  illud  et  super  flores  modice 
suifla  et  statim  aurum  impones  et  imprima  dente  vel  lapide  ad 
bmniendum,  et  brunias  ut  supra. 

1 96.  De  quibusdam  generibus  gummi  vel  glvtinis. —  Si  vesicam 
non  habueris  piscis  marrini  pergamenum  vituli  spissum  eodem 
mode  incide,  lava  quoque  ossa  etiam  capitis  lupi  piscis  sicca, 
diligenter  lota  in  calida  aqua  ter  ilia  coque ;  qualemcumque 
horum  coxeris.  Adde  eis  terciam  partem  gummi  lucidissimi, 
t*  e.  arabici  et  modice  coque  et  poteris  servare  quam  diu  volu- 
eris. 

197.  Qiiamodo  tenqierantur  colores  in  libris  ponendis  et  de 
quibus  liquoribus, — Temperando  colores  in  libris  ponendos  fac 
temperamentum  ex  gummi  arabico  lucidissimo  et  aqua  ut 
supra  et  tempera  omnes  colores  excepto  viridi  et  cerusa  et 
minio  et  carminio;  viride  salsum  non  valet  in  libro,  viride 
bispanicum  temperabis  vino  et  si  volueris  umbras  facere  adde 
modicum  succi  gladioli  vel  caulis  vel  porri ;  minium  et  cerusam 
et  earminium  temperabis  claro  ovi.  Azur  mole  cum  sapone 
et  lava  et  distempera  claro  ovi. 

198.  Qiit  ex  mixturis  colorum  ad  invicem  plurimm  ipsorum 


l^irase ;  the  last  sentence  excepted,  which  is  not  in  Thcophilus,  but  part  of 
it  will  be  found  in  the  Claviculai  p.  61. 


158  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  fiBOITB. 

colours  with  one  another. — All  colours  whatever  are  diversified 
and  varied  in  various  ways  and  manners,  by  mixtures  being 
made  with  them  or  laid  over  them,  of  other  colours,  that  agree 
with  them  in  proper  manners  and  quantities.  If  you  require 
these  mixtures  for  painting  figures  and  other  things,  mix  and 
temper  them  as  before  for  books.  And  all  colours  are  to  be 
laid  on  twice,  in  books,  and  on  parchment,  first  very  thin,  and 
then  thicker ;  but  in  letters  only  once.* 

199.  Of  black,  and  ink,  and  of  a  black  and  green  colour* — 
Take  ripe  berries  of  honeysuckle,  that  is,  in  English,  galetrioe, 
and  pound  them  well  in  a  mortar.  Afterwards  boil  them  care- 
fully in  wine,  adding  also  some  rust  of  iron  to  the  decoction. 
This  is  a  green  and  brilliant  ink.  If  you  wish  to  colour  a  cloth 
or  a  skin  green,  paint  it  over  with  a  paintbrush.  But  if  yoa 
wish  it  to  be  black,  add  ink  to  the  composition,  as  usual. 

200.  Gum  prevents  the  ink  from  running. — If  you  wish  to 
prevent  the  above  written,  or  any  other  ink  fit)m  running  when 
you  are  using  it,  add  the  gum  of  a  plum-tree  or  of  an  apple,  in 
the  boiling,  and  boil  it  together.  * 

201.  Also  how  to  make  green^  according  to  t/ie  Normans.* — 
Take  the  herb  which  is  called  grenuspett  [or  gremispett],  and 
boil  it  with  beer  or  wine,  so  that  the  beer  may  be  coloured 
yellow  by  the  herb.  Then  strain  it.  Then  grind  sufficiently 
some  Greek  green  with  the  beer,  and  afterwards  let  it  stand  in 
a  bafflu  or  a  copper  vase  in  the  sun  to  ripen. 

202.  How  to  make  auripetrum. — Spanish  saflron,  distempered 
with  very  clear  glue  or  liquid  varnish,  and  laid  over  very  clear, 
that  is,  very  bright  and  well  polished  tin,  assumes  the  appear- 
ance of  gold  to  those  that  look  on  it,  for  it  receives  its  colour 
from  the  sun,  and  its  brilliancy  from  the  tin,  and  thus  may  be 
made  excellent  auripetrum. 


1  The  latter  part  of  this  chapter  is  from  Theophilus,  lib.  i.  cap.  xxxiv. 
>  This  recipe  and  the  next  are  in  the  Mappte  Clavicula,  p.  43. 
^  This  recipe  is  also  in  the  Clavicula  (p.  43),  without,  however,  the  re- 
maricable  addition  '^  according  to  the  Normans." 


S.  AUDEMAR  BE  COLOBIBUS  FACIENDIS.  159 

varidaies  fiunt. — Omnes  et  quicumque  colores  ex  mixturis 
aliorum  eis  conyenientium  debitis  modis  et  quantitatibus  eis 
adhibitis  et  impositis  dirersificantur  et  variantur  plurimis 
modis  et  differenciis.  Quas  mixturas  si  indigueris  ad  pin- 
gendum  imagines  et  alia,  compone  et  distempera  in  libris  ut 
supra.  '  Et  omnes  colores  bis  ponendi  sunt  in  libris  et  perga- 
menis  in  primus  tenuissime,  Deinde  spissius  in  Uteris  vero 
semel. 

199.  De  attramento  et  incausto  et  de  negro  et  viridi  colore. — 
Accipe  grana  matura  caprifolii  hoc  est  anglice  galetrice  et  in 
mortario  bene  contere.  Post  vino  diligenter  fac  bullire  ferrum 
arn^natum  decoctione  similiter  addiciens.  Hoc  est  viride  et 
fulgens  incaustum  et  si  vis  pannum  vel  corium  habere  viride, 
pincello  desuper  linias.  Si  vero  vis  ut  niger  sit  huic  composi- 
tioni  adde  solito  attramentum. 

200.  Quod  gumma  cum  prohibet  Jluxum  incausti. — Si  vis 
facere  quod  superscriptum  incaustum  vel  aliud  non  decurrat 
cum  de  ipso  operatur,  pone  gummam  cini  vel  pomi  in  coctione 
et  simul  coque. 

201.  Item  de  viridi  fadendo  secundum  normannos. — Accipe 
herbam  que  dicitur  gremispect  et  bulli  cum  cervesia  aut  vino 
adeo  ut  cervisia  crocea  sit  de  herba.  Postea  cola  Deinde 
pulverem  de  viridi  Greco  mola  cum  ipsa  cervisia  ut  satis  sit, 
postea  stet  in  baocino  vel  cupreo  vase  contra  solem  ad  matu- 
randum. 

202.  Quomodo  efficitur  auripetrum. — ^Crocus  hbpanicus  cum 
lucidissimo  glutine  seu  vernicio  liquido  distemperatur  et  stanno 
limpidissimo,  i.e.  pene  polito  et  claro,  superpositas  speciem  auri 
intuentibus  mentitur  quod  a  sole  colorem  et  stanno  accipit 
fulgorem  et  inde  optimum  fit  auripetrum. 


160  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGXTE. 

203.  Also,  in  the  same  manner ^  a  coat  of  gall  gives  the  ap- 
pearance  of  gold  to  copper  vases.^ — By  scraping  copper  with  i 
knife,  and  burnishing  it  with  a  bear's  tooth,  it  is  polished. 
ITien  lay  gall  evenly  over  every  part  of  it  with  a  paintbrush ; 
and,  when  it  is  dry,  lay  on  more  and  more  coats  of  gall^  and  it 
imitates  the  colour  of  gold. 

204.  How  to  colour  copper. — Take  copper  that  has  been  well 
filed  and  polished  and  afterwards  varnished  over,  and  warm  it 
frequently  before  the  fire,  and  it  will  turn  of  a  red  colour. 
Afterwards  scrape  it  with  a  sharp  knife  in  several  places  and 
cover  it  again  with  some  colour,  and  then  the  fire  will  turn  it 
of  a  difierent  colour ;  and  so  in  proportion  to  the  warmth. 

205.  Abo,  the  manner  of  beating  out  tin-plates,  so  as  to  appear 
giU,  to  use  in  painting,  on  account  of  the  price  of  gold, — K  you 
wish  to  make  [imitate]  gold  leaf,  take  pure  tin  or  silver  and 
make  it  into  very  thin  plates ;  and  take  dry  saffi'on  flowers,  and 
wrap  them  up  in  a  linen  cloth  and  lay  them  in  gum  water,  aod 
leave  them  there  until  they  are  soft.  Tlien  take  them  out, 
being  careful  not  to  squeeze  them.  But  if  the  saflS'on  which 
you  intend  to  soak  in  water  is  fresh>  you  must  first  put  the 
flowers  in  the  sun  in  a  linen  cloth  by  themselves,  to  dry,  and 
when  they  are  dry  soak  them  in  water  as  before  directed. 
Afterwards  take  the  beforemenlioned  water  and  lay  it  thinly 
once  over  the  plates  and  let  them  dry.  Then  take  the  flowers, 
dried  as  before  directed,  and  soak  them  in  white  of  egg,  which 
has  been  whipped  a  little,  and  stir  it  with  your  finger,  and  let  the 
plates  lie  in  it  a  short  time,  until  each  piece  has  been  dipped 
three  times,  letting  the  pieces  dry  separately  between  each  of 
these  three  times,  and  afterwards  polish  them  with  an  onyx 
stone ;  and  if  you  have  no  onyx,  grease  the  tin  with  the  oil 
which  is  made  from  linseed,  and  let  it  dry,  and  put  it  on  paper 
or  on  wood  in  this  manner.  Take  the  above  mentioned  gum 
and  put  it  in  tepid  water*  and  allow  it  to  remain  for  so  long  as 
it  takes  to  sing  a  mass.^    Afterwards  lay  pure  white  colour  in 

^  Sec  Eraclius,  lib.  ii.  No.  XVI.  s  About  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 


S.  AUDEMAB  DB  COLOBIBUB  FAdENDIS.  161 

203.  Itemque  sic  vasa  cuprea  linicio  feUis  deauraturam  men- 
tiiur. — Cuprum  raddendo  cum  cultello  et  bruniendo  dente 
ursino  splendificatur.  Deinde  cum  felle  linies  pincello  per 
omnes  ejus  partes  tracto  equaliter ;  quo  siccato  iterum  atque 
iterum  fel  superpone  et  auri  mentitur  colorem. 

204.  Ad  eohrandum  <niprum. — Cuprum  bene  limatum  et 
planatum  postea  yernicio  tinctum  ad  ignem  sepe  calefaciat  et 
contrabet  colorem  rubeum.  Postea  cum  acuto  cultello  radde 
in  dirersis  locis  et  iterum  iliini  aliquo  colore  et  ibi  alium 
colorem  babebit  ad  ignem  et  quanto  plus  calefiet. 

205.  Item  de  modo  attenuandi  laminas  gtaami  ut  auratm 
videantur  ex  oarentia  auri  utendas  in  operxbvA. — Si  vis  facere 
petonas  de  auro  accipe  stanhum  purum  vel  argentum  et  fac 
laminas  midtum  tenuas  et  accipe  crocum  florem  siccum  et  in- 
volve in  panno  lineo  et  pone  in  aqua  ubi  gumma  est  et  dimitte 
ibi  Qsqnequo  mollescat.  Postea  tolles  eum  et  cave  ne  con- 
stringas  eum ;  si  autem  crocus  recens  est  quum  ipsam  accipis 
pro  ponendo  in  aqua  debes  prius  ponere  ad  solem  in  panno 
lineo  florem  separatim  siocare  et  dum  siccus  fuerit  mitte  in 
aquam  temperare  ut  dictum  est  superius.  Post  bee  accipe 
aquam  supradictam  et  tinge  laminas  subtiliter  semel  et  admitte 
siccari.  Dehioc  accipe  florem  siccatam  sicut  dixi  et  pone  in 
glaream  ovi  aliquantulum  vapulum  et  cum  digito  fricabis.  Et 
laminas  dimitte  jacere  aliquantulum  in  ea  donee  omnes  laminae 
infusae  sint  ter.  Ita  tamen  ut  unaquaque  vice  exipsis  tribus 
permittas  eas  sigillatim  siccari,  postea  licoabis  eas  cum  oncbinos 
si  non  babes  onchinum  unge  laminas  de  oleo  quod  fit  de  lini 
semine  et  permitte  siccari,  et  eas  pones  in  carta  vel  in  ligno 
hoc  modo.  Acdpies  gummam  supradictam  et  pones  aquam 
tepidam  et  iterum  tantum  permittes  jacere,  quantum  spatii  est 
cantare  missam.  Postea  pone  purum  album  colorem  sicut 
ponere  debes  in  locis  in  qui  bus  ponere  vis  laminas  et  dum 


VOL.  I.  M 


162  MANTJ8CBIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEQTTB. 

a  proper  maimer  on  those  places  on  which  you  wish  to  apply 
the  tin,  and,  when  they  are  dry,  polish  them  with  an  onyx 
stone ;  then  lay  the  gum  water  upon  the  white  colour,  and  let  it 
dry.  Then  polish  it  as  before ;  after  this  cut  the  tin  according 
to  the  form  required,  lay  it  on  with  the  said  gum-water,  and 
let  it  dry ;  and  clean  it  with  a  sponge  dipped  in  cold  water; 
then  rub  it  down  with  a  linen  cloth  well  wrung  out,  and  rub 
the  tin,  and  afterwards  polish  it,  as  before  mentioned. 

206.  Also  as  before^  how  to  gild  leaves  or  beaten  plates  of 
tin. — ^Take  the  herb  which  is  called  myrrh,^  and  aloes,  of  eadi 
equal  weights,  and  having  mixed  them  together,  put  them  in 
a  proper  quantity  of  water.  Tlien  boil  them  well,  and  after 
they  have  been  boiled,  pour  the  water  into  a  vessel,  and  take 
the  leaves  of  tin  well  covered  on  one  side  with  varnish,  im- 
merse it  in  the  liquor  as  long  as  necessary.  Then  boil  the 
middle  bark  of  the  black  plum  well  in  a  vessel,  and  afterwards 
dip  the  same  tin  in  this  water.    Then  lay  it  on  a  table  to  dry. 

207.  Also  as  before. — Mix  linseed  oil  and  resin,  an  equal 
weight  of  each,  and  add  the  same  measure  of  vemix,  put  these 
ingredients  into  a  jar  and  boil  them  well.  Then  dip  leaves  of 
tin  well  varnished  into  it  [the  jar],  and  afterwards  dry  them  in 
the  sun. 

208.  Also  as  above. — Put  linseed-oil  and  the  inner  bark  of 
the  black  plum  into  a  new  jar,  and  boil  it  well  for  a  short  time 
upon  charcoal  or  upon  a  clear  fire.  Then  clean  your  glassa,  by 
weight  as  much  as  you  like,  and  put  it  into  another  jar,  and 
take  about  half  the  quantity  of  alum,  and  of  dragon's  blood, 
and  put  it  all  into  the  jar,  and  lastly  add  a  little  resin,  and 
melt  the  whole  well  together,  and  as  soon  as  all  the  ingredientB 

1  It  seems  probable  that  the  gum-rerin  myrrh  is  meant,  pardciilarl/  as 
myrrh  is  named  among  other  gums  and  resins  in  the  recipe  entitled  "  Ia* 
cida  quo  modo  fiant  super  colores,*'  in  the  Clavicula,  p.  63,  and  in  the 
Lucca  MS.,  published  by  Muratori.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  obsenrod, 
that  the  author  writes  *<  the  herb  which  is  called  myrrh  ;'*  and  in  the  Table 
of  Synonymes  myrrh  is  said  to  be  the  "  tree  vulgarly  called  genestia." 
The  plant  called  '•  myrrha,"  myrrhis,  &c.,    is   the  Scandiz  odorato, 


S.  AUDKMAB  DE  COLORIBUS  FACIENBIS.  163 

siccuiu  fiierit  lioca  eum  omcfaino  et  sic  pones  aquam  in  qua 
gamma  est  super  album  colorem  et  dimitte  siccare.  Item 
lioca  ut  supra ;  post  boo  incide  laminas  secundum  modum  loci 
ubi  ponere  volueris,  et  pone  eas  cum  dicta  aqua  gummata,  et 
permitte  siccari  et  cum  spongia  intincta  in  aqua  frigida  purga 
postea  ipsas  laminas  ubi  posuisti  eas,  postea  cum  panno  lineo 
extersa  optime  et  frica  ipsas  laminas  et  postea  licca  ut  supra 
scriptum  est. 

206.  Item  ut  supra  de  modo  deaurandi  folia  seu  laminas 
siamii  attenuaias. — Accipe  berbam  que  dicitur  myrra  et  aloem 
uno  pondere  ambas  et  commixtas  simul  pone  in  illam  aquam 
secundum  modum  appositam.  Deinde  fac  bullire  bene,  et  post 
eoctionem  herbarum  mitte  aquam  in  sartaginem  et  folia  stanni 
bene  illinita  una  parte  de  vemix  appone  et  bene  merge  quan- 
tum opus  fiierit.  Deinde  medianam  corticis  pruni  nigri  fac 
bullire,  in  sarta^nem  bene  et  postea  mitte  eadem  folia  in  hac 
aqua.     Deinde  appone  folia  super  tabulam  ad  siccandum. 

207.  Item  ut  supra. — Oleum  de  lini  semine  et  picem  uno 
pondere  mixtum  et  eamdem  mensuram  de  vemix  pone  in  ollam 
et  be  bullire  bene.  Deinde  mitte  folia  stanni  bene  yemiciata 
intus  et  post  modum  siccata  ad  solem. 

208.  Hem  ut  supra. — Oleum  lineum  et  medianam  corticem 
nigri  pruni  mitte  in  ollam  novam  ac  fac  bene  bullire  super  car- 
bones  yel  daro  igne  paulatim,  deinde  munda  glassam  tuam 
quantum  volueris  cum  pondere  et  pone  in  alteram  ollam  et 
alominis  quasi  mediam  partem  et  sanguinem  drachonis  et 
omnia  bsec  mitte  in  ollam  et  ad  ultimum  mixtum  picem  ad- 
junge  et  bene  funde  et  quam  dtius  bee  omnia  fondentur  appone 


Myrrhis  magno  Bemine  longo  solcato,  Myrrhis  major  dcutaria  odornto. 
MTTrhenkerbel,  Aniskerbel.  Id  English,  the  sweet-scented  Cicely,  or 
myrrh.  Cerfeuil  odorant  ou  musqu^,  Cerfeuil  d'Espagne,  Fr.  Cerfoglio 
od<Ht)80,  Miroide,  Ital.  Matthioli  and  Laguna  say  that  the  Cerfeuil  of  the 
French  was  synonymous  with  the  Gingidio  of  the  Greeks  (the  Scandiz  cere- 
foKom) :  therefore,  instead  of  *^  Genestra,'*  we  ought  perhaps  to  read 
"  Gingidio." 

M  2 


164  MANUSCBIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEOXJE. 

are  melted,  add  the  abovementioned  oil,  and,  as  if  you  were 
making  a  compound  ointment,  let  them  boil  well  together,  and 
stir  them  frequently,  and  afterwards  dip  your  nail  into  the  com- 
position and  try  whether  it  is  good  or  not. 

209.  Aho  as  before. — Collect  twigg  of  black  plum,  and  pat 
them  in  the  sun  for  a  week  or  a  fortni^t,  and  then  throw  away 
the  outer  bark,  and  take  the  inner  bark,  and  put  it  into  a 
rou^  jar,  so  as  to  fill  it  Then  take  linseed  or  hempeeed-oil, 
and  pour  into  the  jar  as  much  of  it  as  it  will  hold,  and  beat 
it  slowly  oyer  the  fire,  until  the  bark  is  reduced  to  charcoal. 
Then  throw  away  the  bark,  and  strain  the  remainder  of  the  oil 
through  linen,  and  take  resin  and  white  frankincense,  and  clean 
the  jar  well,  and  then  put  all  the  ingredients  into  it  again,  aad 
heat  it  as  long  as  you  please. 


S.  AUDEMAR  DB  COLORIBUS  FACIENDIS.  165 

supradictum  oleum  et  secundum  unclionem  confectioms  et  sine 
bene  bullire  simul  et  ssepe  move  et  post  modum  intinges  ungu- 
lam  tuam  et  temptabis  utrum  bonum  sit  an  non. 

209.  Item  tU  antecL — CoUige  yirgulas  de  nigro  pruno  et 
pone  ad  solem  per  octo  dies  aut  quindecim  et  postea  primum 
projides  corticem  accipies  que  secundum  et  poues  in  oUa  rudi 
ita  ut  plena  sit.  Deinde  accipies  oleum  de  lino  vel  de  canapo, 
et  in  olla  quantum  intrare  poteris  impones  et  lente  igne  tam 
diu  coques  donee  ipse  cortex  in  carbonem  redigatur  et  tunc 
projides  et  per  lintheum  quod  remanserit  oleum  colabis  et 
postea  acdpies  picem  et  thus  album  et  ipsam  que  oUulam  for- 
titer  mundabis,  totum  que  simul  repones  iterum  intus  et  quan- 
tum tibi  placuerit  coques. 


(    166    ) 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  ERACLIUS. 


PRELIMINARY  OBSERVATIONS. 

Two  ancient  copies  only  of  the  MS.  of  Eraclius  have 
been  hitherto  discovered,  and  it  is  somewhat  singular 
that  both  are  bound  up  mth  MSS.  of  Theophilus. 

The  most  ancient  of  these  is  that  discoyered  by 
Baspe  in  the  library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
and  which  he  afterwaixls  published  in  his  work  on 
Painting  in  Oil  (London,  1801).  This  MS.  is  written 
on  vellum,  and  is  of  the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century.^  It  is  now  in  the  British  Museum.'  The 
first  two  books  are  in  verse ;  the  last,  which  consists  of 
twenty-four  or  twenty-five  chapters,  is  in  prose. 

The  MS.  next  in  point  of  antiquity  is  that  which 
forms  part  of  the  MS.  of  Le  Begue.  It  is  written  on 
paper,  and  was  transcribed  in  the  year  1431,  probably 
from  an  older  MS.,  the  property  of  John  Alcherius, 
which  passed  with  his  other  MSS.  into  the  hands  of 
Le  Begue.  The  third  book  of  this  copy  contains  a 
great  many  additional  chapters,  and  the  whole  of  those 
publi^ed  by  Baspe,  with  the  exception  of  one  chapter, 
"  De  probatione  auri  et  argenti."' 

ft 

1  Raspe,  *  On  Painting  in  Oil,'  p.  42 ;  Eastlake,  *  Materials  for  t  His- 
tory of  Painting  in  Oil,*  p.  33. 
s  Egcrton  MSS.,  840,  A. 
.1  Baspe,  p.  117. 


BRACLIUS.  167 

■ 

There  is  reason,  however,  to  suppose  that  many 
copies  of  this  MS.  existed  formerly,  and  that  they  were 
as  widely  scattered  as  the  copies  of  the  MS.  of  Theo- 
philus.  That  this  was  the  case  is,  I  think,  proved  by 
the  fact  that  fragments  of  the  Treatise  of  Eraclius  are 
found  in  other  works,  although  they  are  ascribed  not 
unfrequently  to  other  authors.  I  shall  mention,  in  the 
first  place,  those  works  in  which  the  metrical  chapters 
are  to  be  found. 

The  most  ancient  work  in  which  this  occurs  is  the 
Treatise  of  Theophilus,  the  copy  of  which  in  the  Bri- 
tish Museum  contains  fifteen  chapters  of  the  first  and 
second  books  of  Eraclius,  some  of  which,  like  the 
original,  are  metrical,  while  the  others  are  paraphrases 
in  prose ;  and  this  is  certainly  a  proof  that  this  part  of 
the  Treatise  of  Eraclius  was  written  before  that  copy  of 
Theophilus.* 


1  The  mere  fact  of  one  MS.  containing  parts  of  another,  is  not  of  itself 

sufficient  to  pro?e  the  age  of  a  MS. :  as  these  old  writers  borrowed  from 

each  other  without  acknowledging  their  obligations,  it  is  impossible  to  say 

which  is  the  oldest,  unless  other  circumstances  assist  in  determining  the 

age.     In  the  case  of  Theophilus  it  is  apparent  that  the  poeUcal  parts  are 

borrowed,  because  they  form  part  of  another  work  written  entirely  in  verse, 

while  no  part  of  Theophilus  is  in  verse  except  the  commencement,  and  the 

measure  of  the  latter  verses  differs  from  those  of  Eraclius,  for  the  former  are 

Leonines,  which  is  not  the  case  with  the  latter.     If  this  proof  be  insuffi- 

dent,  the  passage  in  Theophilus,  lib.  iii.  cap.  cvi.,  will  be  quite  conclusive. 

He  says,  **  £z  vitro  si  quis  depingere  vascula  quseriti  et  te  verte  ad  banc 

artem  que  in  primo  libro  scripts  est    Hsc  enim  ita  se  habet."    The 

chapter  referred  to  is  not  in  Theophilus,  but  in  the  first  book  of  Eraclius. 

In  the  case  of  the  Clavicula,  it  is  not  so  easy  to  determine  whether  it  is 

older  than  Eraclius,  because  both  contain  copies  of  certain  chapters  which 

perhaps  belonged  to  a  third  work,  for  some  of  them  are  repeated  two  or 

three  times  in  the  Clavicula.     The  age  of  the  MS.  must  be  settled  by  the 

constderation  of  other  circumstances,  and  these  favour  the  presumption  that 

the  Clavicula  preceded  the  third  book  of  Eraclius. 


168  MANUSCBIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEOUE. 

The  earliest  writer,  after  Theophilus,  whose  name  I 
have  yet  found  attached  to  the  verses  of  Eraclius  is 
Arnold  de  Villeneuve.^  The  verses  ascribed  to  him 
occur  in  the  Secreti  of  Wecker,*  published  at  Bade  in 
1598,  pp.  428  and  449.  They  relate  to  precious  stones 
and  crystal. 

Other  metrical  chapters  of  Eraclius,  eight  in  number, 
will  be  found  in  the  same  edition  of  Wecker  (p.  643- 
645) ;  but  these  chapters,  instead  of  being  ascribed  to 
Arnold  de  Yilleneuve,  have  the  name  of  Marcellus 
Falingenius  attached  to  them.^ 


t'  Arnold  de  Yilleneuve,  a  physician  and  alchemist  He  tra?eUed  in 
Italy  and  Germany.    He  was  bom  a.d.  1346,  and  died  preTions  to  1311. 

s-  The  work  of  J.  J.  Wecker,  '  De  Secretis,'  was  originally  a  tFsnsUtioD 
of  the  secrets  of  Don  Alessio  Piemontese ;  the  first  edition  was,  acoordin|^ 
to  Hailer,  printed  at  Basle  in  1559.  '*  Every  edition/'  says  Beckmann, 
*'  seems  to  differ  from  the  preceding ;  many  things  are  omitted,  and  the 
new  editions  are,  for  the  most  part,  of  little  importance.  I  have  the  edi- 
tion of  Basle,  1592,  8vo.,  in  which  there  is  a  great  deal  not  to  be  found  in 
that  of  1662,  and  which  wants  some  things  contained  in  the  edition  of  1682. 
The  latest  editions  are  printed  from  that  improved  by  Theod.  Zuringer, 
Basle,  1701 ,  8vo.  The  last  edition  by  Znringer  was  published*  at  Basle  m 
1753."  The  edition  of  1598,  the  preface  of  which  is  dated  1582,  is  the 
only  one  to  which  I  have  bad  access ;  I  cannot  say,  therefore,  whether  the 
extracts  from  Eraclius  are  contained  in  other  editions. 

>  The  real  name  of  this  Marcellus  Palingenius  was  Manzelli,  or  ManioK ; 
he  was  a  native  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Ferrara,  and  being  a  reformer,  he 
narrowly  escaped  being  put  to  death  by  the  Inquisition.  He  published  a 
Latin  poem,  called  the  Zodiac ;  the  first  edition  of  which  was  pubKsfaed 
not  prior  to  1534.  The  measure  of  these  verses  is  different  from  that  of 
Eraclius,  and  I  could  not  discover  that  the  work  of  the  latter  formed  a  part 
of  it.  Another  work  has  also  been  ascribed  to  Marcellus,  entitled  *  De 
Corallorum  Tincturd.'  (See  Potts'  *  Chemical  Dissertations,'  translated  by 
Demachy.)  The  fragment  from  Eraclius  may  have  formed  part  of  this 
work,  for  w^hich  I  have  inquired  in  vain  in  many  public  libraries.  When  I 
was  at  Ferrara  I  inquired  for  this  and  other  works  of  Marcellus  Palingenius 
of  the  Abb.  AntoncUi,  the  learned  librarian  of  the  public  library  of  that 
city,  and  I  showed  him  the  verses  in  Wecker,  but  he  could  give  me  no 
information,  except  that  the  King  of  Prussia,  when  he  was  at  Ferrva,  had 


P«^^>«"«^->^i««^^^iV^«iW«WHV«f^«P 


ERACUUS.  169 

With  regard  to  the  chapters  of  the  third  book  con- 
tained in  other  MSS.,  I  shall  at  present  mention  only 
that  some  of  them  are  to  be  found  in  the  Clavicula. 
These  have  been  collated  with  the  MS.  of  Eraclius, 
and  the  variations  are  inserted  in  the  present  work. 
It  is  probable  that  many  more  chapters  may  be  incor- 
porated into  some  of  the  works  entitled  '^  Secrets ;"  but 
there  appears  to  be  no  inducement  to  undertake  the 
labour  of  searching  these  works^  since  they  would 
neither  add  to  the  practical  knowledge  of  the  arts  they 
describe,  nor  make  us  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
Eraclius  or  of  his  works,  since  they  do  not  bear  his 
name. 

Of  the  biography  of  Eraclius  nothing  is  known :  his 
country  and  the  date  of  his  work  are  equally  uncertain. 
The  same  uncertainty  attends  the  work ;  for  there  is 
some  doubt  whether  the  whole  of  the  MS.  ascribed  to 
him  in  the  Le  Begue  collection  was  actually  written  by 
him  or  not  I  shall  first  offer  some  remarks  on  the 
work  itself,  and  shall  then  state  the  conclusions  I  have 
drawn  from  a  careful  consideration  of  it 

With  regard  to  the  composition  of  the  work  itself,  it 
appears  to  consist  primd  facie  of  three  books,  the  first 
two  of  which  are  metrical ;  the  third  is  in  prose. 

The  metrical  part  consists  of  twenty-one  stanzas  or 


appeared  to  take  a  personal  interest  in  Palingenius,  and  had  procured 
such  of  his  works  as  he  could  collect.  On  my  return  to  England,  Sir 
Ilenrjr  Ellis  was  so  obliging  as  to  give  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Dr. 
Pertz,  the  librarian  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  to  whom  I  wrote,  requesting  to 
know  whether  he  could  inform  me  if  these  verses,  of  which  I  inclosed  a 
copy,  formed  part  of  any  work  of  Palingenius  which  might  be  preserved 
in  the  Royal  Library  at  Berlin.  Dr.  Pertz  very  kindly  searched  both 
the  Royal  Library  and  the  King's  private  library,  but  witliout  success. 


170  MANUSCRIPTS  OP  JEHAN  LE  BEQUE. 

chapters.     It  commences  with  a  prologue,  which  is  pre- 
ceded in  the  Cambric^e  MS.  by  these  words,  ^^  Incipit 
Liber  Eraclii  sapientissimi  viri  de  coloribus  et  artibus 
Romanorum."  The  commencement  of  the  second  book 
in  the  same  MS.  is  ^^  Incipit  Lib.  11.  de  colore  auripig- 
mento  simili ;"  while  in  the  Paris  MS.  the  word  "  me- 
tricus"   is  inserted  in  the  title   of  both  books  after 
"  primus  "  and  "  secundus."    The  third  book  in  lie 
Cambridge  MS.  has  no  heading ;  but  in  the  Paris  MS. 
it  is  headed  ^^  Incipit  tertius  liber  et  prosaicus  Eraclii 
antedicti  de  coloribus  et  artibus  praedictis.*'     These 
various  readings  certainly  suggest  the  idea  that  the 
headings  of  the  chapters  were  not  written  by  Eraclius 
himself  and  that  the  work  consisted  originally  of  the 
metrical  parts  only ;  and  this  supposition  gains  ground 
from  a  consideration  of  the  difference  of  style  obsenrable 
between  the  first  and  second  books  and  the  third  part, 
and  from  the  fact  that  the  metrical  parts  contain  fre- 
quent allusions  to  the  arts  of  the  Romans,  which  is  not 
the  case  in  the  third  book,  with  the  exception,  perhaps, 
of  the  extracts  from  Vitruyius  and  Isidore.    The  chapter 
*^  De  edere  et  lacca  "  is  singular,  and  seems  to  indicate 
that  the  author  was  a  native  of  Italy.     Eraclius  says, 

"  Hujus  enim  frondein  nimium  coluere  priores^ 
Ad  titulum  laudb ;  erat  ipsa  corona  poetis." 

while  the  parallel  chapter  in  Theophilus  (E.  Ed.  p. 
394)  runs  thus :  ^*  Foetarum  enim  carmina  cum  reci- 
tarentur  in  theatro  ante  conventum  romanarum  corona- 
bantur  hedera."  From  this  it  may  be  inferred,  not 
only  that  Eraclius  was  a  native  of  Italy,  and  that 
Theophilus  (supposing  the  whole  of  the  MS.  in  the 


BRACLind.  171 

British  Museum  ascribed  to  Theo{^ilus  to  have  been 
Included  in  his  work)^  was  aware  of  the  fact,  but  also 
that  the  latter  was  not  an  Italian,  otherwise  he  would 
not  have  changed  the  phraseology  of  Eraclius. 

The  first  chapter  of  the  second  book  describes  a  yel- 
low colour,  composed  of  the  gall  of  a  large  fish,  called 
"  Huso/*  mixed  with  chalk,  which  produced  a  colour 
like  orpiment  A  similar  recipe,  which  is  entitled 
*' colore  aureo  Lombardico,"  is  contained  in  a  small 
MS.  in  the  Biblioth^que  Boyale  at  Paris.'  This  is 
another  intimation  of  an  Italian  origin. 

Although  the  name  of  Eraclius  appears  to  be  Greek,' 
and  not  Latin,  I  am  induced  to  suppose  that  Eraclius, 
the  author  of  the  first  two  books,  was  an  Italian,  a  native 
perhaps  of  some  part  of  the  Lombard  dukedom  of  Bene- 
vento,  which,  says  Sismondi,  ^*had  preserved,  under 
independent  princes  and  surrounded  by  the  Greeks  and 
Saracens,  a  degree  of  civilization  which  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  middle  ages  was  unexampled  throughout 
the  rest  of  Italy.  Many  of  the  fine  arts  and  some 
branches  of  science  were  cultivated  there  with  success. 
The  schools  of  Salerno  communicated  to  the  West  the 
medical  skill  of  the  Arabs,  and  the  commerce  of  Amalfi 
introduced  into  those  fertile  provinces  not  only  wealth, 
but  knowledge.    From  the  eighth  to  the  tenth  century 

1  I  have  before  observed,  that  the  copy  of  the  MS.  of  Theophilus  in  the 
British  Museum  contains  no  less  than  fifteen  chapters  taken  from  the  first  and 
second  books  of  Eraclius.  Some  of  these  are  transcripts,  others  are  para- 
phrases. It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  these  additions  to  the  m  ork  of 
Theophilus  were  actually  made  by  himself,  or  by  one  of  his  transcribers. 
The  former  appears  to  mc  probable,  because  I  think  it  is  evident  that 
Theophilus  was  well  acquainted  with  the  MS.  ascribed  to  Eraclius. 

»  No.  vi.  MDCCXLIX.,  B.  No.  0. 

3^  Raspe,  p.  44. 


1*72  MANITSCBIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEQUE. 

various  historical  works,  written,  it  is  tnie,  in  Latin, 
but  distinguished  for  their  fidelity,  their  spirit,  and  their 
fire,  proceeded  from  the  pen  of  several  men  of  talent, 
natives  of  that  district,  some  of  whom  clothed  their 
compositions  in  hexameter  verses,  which,  compared 
with  others  of  the  same  period,  display  superior  facility 
and  fancy." 

The  custom  alluded  to  of  composing  works  in  hexa- 
meter verses,  will  not  fail  to  recal  to  the  mind  of  the 
reader  the  metrical  work  of  Eraclius,  the  literary  merit 
of  which,  however,  certainly  does  not  entitle  it  to  rank 
among  the  works  alluded  to  by  Sismondi 

It  appears  to  have  been  also  the  custom  in  Italy 
during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  to  place 
inscriptions  in  Latin  verse  on  works  of  art,  as  well  of 
architecture,  as  of  sculpture  and  painting,  and  even  in 
mosaics.  Many  of  these  inscriptions  have  been  pub- 
lished by  Ciampi.^  The  verses  were  sometimes  hex- 
ameters, and  sometimes  leonines.  It  is  not  improbable, 
therefore,  that  the  first  two  books  of  Eraclius  were 
written  during  the  prevalence  of  this  custom. 

The  last  book  of  the  Cambridge  MS.  which  follows 
the  metrical  chapters  without  any  title,  contains  about 
twenty-five  chapters  which  are  arranged  with  some  re- 
gard to  order.  Nos.  I. — IV.  relate  to  pottery ;  two  of 
these  I  have  before  observed  are  versified  in  the  second 
book.  Nos.  y. — XII.  treat  of  glass  and  precious  stones. 
In  these  chapters  is  given  a  narration,  taken  firom 
Isidore,  who  had  copied  Pliny,  of  the  discovery  of  the 
art  of  making  glass,  with  the  marvellous  legend  of  the 

^  Notizie  inedite  della  Sagrestia  Pistoieee,  &c.,  pp.  27, 37,  38,  43, 46, 48. 


SRACLniS.  173 

cup  of  flexible  glass  which,  it  is  said,  cost  the  inventor 
his  life ;  to  which  are  added  from  other  sources  the 
method  of  making  glass  of  various  colours  and  of 
cutting  and  polishing  precious  stones.  Nos.  XIII. — ^ 
XXIII.  relate  to  gilding  on  metals,  and  the  last  two 
chapters  relate  to  painting.  There  is  reason  to  suppose 
ihat  this  third  book  of  the  Cambridge  MS.  is  incom- 
plete, because  there  is  a  reference  in  one  of  the  chapters 
to  auripetrum,  the  composition  of  which  is  not  described 
in  this  MS.,  but  in  lliat  of  Le  Begue. 

The  third  book  in  the  Le  Begue  MS.  contains  all 
the  chapters  enumerated  above,  with  the  exception  of 
one  '^De  probatione  auri  et  argenti,"  to  which  are 
added  above  thirty  other  chapters  which  treat  chiefly 
of  painting.  The  arrangement,  however,  observable  in 
the  Cambridge  MS.  is  not  the  same  in  the  MS.  of 
Le  Begue,  in  which  the  different  recipes  appear  to 
be  thrown  together  at  random  without  any  regard  to 
the  subject.  As  it  was  therefore  necessary  to  select 
between  the  arrangement  of  the  Cambridge  MS.  and 
that  of  Le  Begue,  I  have  adopted  the  former  as  the 
most  methodical,  and  have  arranged  the  remaining 
chapters  of  the  third  book  as  systematically  as  it  was 
possible.  I  have  however  retained  the  numbers  of  the 
Le  Begue  MS.  for  the  convenience  of  reference,  and 
have  attached  to  them  other  numbers  which  commence 
with  the  third  book.  As  the  last  chapters  of  the  Cam- 
bridge MS.  treat  of  preparing  wood  and  colours  for 
painting,  the  chapters  which  relate  to  the  preparation 
of  grounds  and  vehicles  are  placed  next  After  this  is 
a  recipe  for  dyeing  Cordovan  leather,  followed  by 
recipes  for  colours,  for  gilding  on  pictures,  and  then 


174  BiANUSCRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

for  executing  Nielli.  Next  follow  several  chapters 
relative  to  colours  which  are  extracted  principally  from 
y itnivius,  and  lastly  three  chapters  on  painting  which 
have  evidently  formed  plurt  of  some  Byzantine  MS. 

While  preparing  this  MS.  fer  publication,  I  have  had 
occasion  to  remark,  that  several  chapters  in  the  third 
book,  contain  words  and  expressions  and  allusions  to 
arts,  which  appear  to  belong  to  the  twelfth  or  thirteendi 
centuries.  From  these  expressions  it  also  appears  to 
me  quite  clear,  that  the  author  of  certain  portions  of 
the  third  book  was  neither  a  Greek  nor  an  Italian ;  on 
the  contrary  it  seems  to  me  extremely  probable,  from 
the  fact  of  some  of  the/  foreign  words  introduced  being 
of  French  origin,  while  odiers  occur  in  French  MSS^ 
that  this  part  of  the  work  was  written  by  a  Frenchman, 
under  which  term  I  include  also  the  Normans,  who 
were  at  that  period  English  subjects. 

I  shall  first  notice  the  word  ^^  cerasin,''  which  appears 
to  me  to  be  derived  from  the  French,  and  if  this  could 
be  proved  it  would  at  once  fix  the  country  of  the 
author,  for  he  says  ^^  quod  nos  Gerasin  vocamus.*"  If 
this  be  the  frtct,  ^*  Galienum  "  may  also  be  considered  a 
French  term,  for  although  it  is  mentioned  in  the  Index 
of  the  second  book  of  Theophilus  (who  calls  it  *^  Gal- 
lien  **  *  and  not  "  Galienum  "),  yet  it  will  be  recollected 
that  this  author  professes  to  teach  *^  <|uicquid  in  Fenes- 
trarum  preciosa  varietate  diligit  FranciaJ^  and  in  lib. 
ii.  cap.  xii.,  he  i^ain  mentions  the  skill  of  i^e  French 
in  this  art     Besides,  the  term   "Gali  colour,  red,** 

' ' : : 1 a 

1  "De  vitro  quod  vocatur  Gallien."  See  the  Wolfcnbuttel  MS.  of 
Theophilus,  published  by  Lessing.  There  is  a  reprint  of  this  work  in  the 
8vo.  edition  of  Lessing's  works,  published  in  1639. 


ERACLIITS.  175 

occurs  in  the  MS.  of  Mayerne  in  an  extract  from  the 
book  of  "Mr.  CoUadon"  entitled  *' Couleurs  des  Es- 
maulx  ou  Vernix  de  la  Poterie  de  Faience ;  Copie  de 
Toriginal  d'un  Maistre  potier  Anglais."  ^ 

The  term  "Grossinum,"  which  occurs  in  No.  VIII. 
and  No.  XLIX.,  appears  to  denote  a  gros,  which  was  a 
French  weight  equal  to  1  drachm  or  the  8th  of  an 
ounce ;  it  may  also  denote  a  small  Grerman  coin,  but 
in  the  present  case  the  former  may  be  fairly  con- 
sidered to  express  its  real  signification. 

Among  die  terms  which  are  peculiar  to  the  north 
and  west  of  Europe  may  be  enumerated  **Cervisia," 
also  "  Warancia,"  which  is  mentioned  in  the  recipe  for 
Cordovan  leather  No.  XXXII.,  and  which  in  the  ex- 
tracts from  Isidore  No.  LIII.,  is  written  '^Garancia,"' 
and  is  identified  with  Saudis  (madder) ;  ^'  Glassam " 
called  in  German  ^^Glas,"  and  in  French  MSS. 
<<  Glasse,"  amber,  and  several  others. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  several  recipes  occur  in  the 

1  It  IS  obeenred  by  all  writers  on  glass-painting,  that  the  colours  used  for 
one  art  are  alwajrs  applicable  to  the  other.  See  Le  Yieil,  de  la  Peinture 
sur  Yeiie,  p.  118. 

Le  Yieil  (p.  25)  obsenres,  *'  A  great  many  of  our  French  churches, 
whidi  date  from  the  twelfth  century,  contain  coloured  glass  windows, 
which  consist  only  of  different  coropartmentB  of  gkss,  the  ground  of 
which  is  generally  red,  and  this  red  glass  was  so  common  then,  and  is  now 
10  rare,  that  it  is  only  with  regard  to  this  fine  red  colour  that  we  can  truly 
consider  the  art  of  painting  on  glass  as  a  secret  now  lost." 

s  Granza  is  the  Spanish  for  madder ;  and  Isidore,  from  whose  work  the 
passage  in  qoestion  was  copied,  was  Bishop  of  Seville  in  the  seventh  century. 
Madder  is  called  in  French,  Garance.  In  medieval  MSS.  the  term  Wa- 
rantia  is  generally  used. 

The  fact  of  the  madder  plant  being  mentioned  under  four  different  terms, 
two  only  of  whidi  are  mentioned  to  be  synonymous,  is  certainly  a  proof 
that  the  recipes  were  written  by  different  persons.  In  No.  XXXII. 
the  term  '*  Waranda"  occurs ;  in  No.  LIII.  we  find  ^'Sandis,  id  est  Ga- 
randa;"  and  in  No.  LV.  the  plant  is  called  **  Rubea." 


176  MANTJSCRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  Lfi  BEGTJE. 

third  book,  which  are  merely  variations  of  some  in  the 
first  book.  This  occurs  so  frequently  in  old  MSS.,  that 
no  conclusions  can  be  drawn  from  this  fact  alone,  as  to 
the  antiquity  or  originality  of  those  of  the  first  booL 
No.  XVIII.  in  the  first  book  is  a  metrical  version  of 
No.  I.  in  the  third  book ;  No.  XIX.  of  the  first  book,  of 
No.  II.  in  the  third  book ;  No.  XXI.  of  the  first  book, 
of  No.  IV.  in  the  third  book.  There  is  no  evidence 
to  show  which  of  these  are  the  most  ancient 

The  same  thing  may  be  observed  of  the  recipes  for 
sculpturing  or  engraving  gems  and  hardening  iron, 
three  of  which  occur  in  the  first  book ;  a  similar  number 
are  contained  in  the  third  book.  The  recipes  are  all 
somewhat  different,  but  they  are  alike  in  principle, 
and  Eraclius  informs  us  (Lib.  i.  No.  VI.)  that  they 
were  derived  in  the  first  instance  from  Fliny.  Several 
of  these  are  found  to  be  in  die  Clavicula. 

As  to  the  date  of  the  third  book  of  Eraclius,  it 
appears  to  me  that  it  must  not  be  considered  earlier 
than  the  twelflh,  or  later  than  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  allusions  to  the  arts  of  the  Saracens  or  Arabians, 
in  Nos.  IX.,  XXXII.,  XL VI.,  and  XL VII.,  prove 
that  the  work  could  not  have  been  earlier  than  the  ninth 
century,  and  the  recipe  for  dyeing  cordovan  leather  * 
(No.  XXXIL),    in    which    the    word   "Warancia" 


1  Cordova  was  taken  by  the  Moon  a.d.  711,  and  in  the  year  759  Ab- 
durrahman established  his  royal  residence  there.  From  that  time  Cordova 
became  the  centre  of  the  arts,  of  industry,  and  of  genius.  It  was  distin- 
guished for  the  excellence  of  its  manufactures,  and  was  especially  celebrated 
for  its  leather,  hence  called  '*  Cordovan."  The  remains  of  the  tan-piti 
employed  in  the  process,  which  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Guadalquivir,  prove  that  the  art  was  of  Moorish  origin,  for  they  were 
formed  of  baked  earth,  a  material,  says  Mr.  Murphy,  much  used  by  the 


ERACUUS.  1 77 

occurs^  affords  a  strong  presumption  that  it  was  much 
later,  in  order  to  give  time  for  the  Moorish  art  to 
become  known  in  those  countries  where  madder  was 
called  by  the  above  name. 

The  lead  glaze  mentioned  in  No.  III.  will,  however, 
probably  enable  us  to  fix  the  earliest  date  at  which  this 
third  book  could  have  been  written,  for  De  Brongniart, 
the  director  of  the  manufactory  at  Sevres,  who  cer- 
tainly may  be  considered  good  authority  on  this  sub- 
jecty  remarks  in  his  Traits  des  Arts  Ceramiques,  p. 
304,  ^^  J'ai  d^ja  dit  que  jusqu'a  present  on  n'avait  re- 
connu  aucune  potterie  Europ&enne  qui  avant  le  idi^ 
siecle  eut  re^u  une  gla^ure  plombi^re."  ^  He  also  says 
that  lead  glazing  was  applied  to  pottery  at  Pesaro 
about  1 100 ;  that  it  had  been  found  on  pottery  in  a 
tomb  at  Jumieges,  the  date  of  which  was  1 120.  He 
also  remarks^  that  pottery  with  a  lead  glaze  was  found 
at  Alsace  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  directions  given  by  Eraclius  for  the  preparation 
of  oils  and  varnishes^  and  for  painting  generally,  corre- 
spond with  the  practice  of  the  thirteenth  century,  espe- 
cially in  England,  as  Mr.  Eastlake '  has  shown  from  va- 
rious documents  preserved  in  the  public  records.  I  should 
also  observe,  that  the  real  Lapis  Lazuli  is  mentioned  in 
No.  LI.,  with  the  test  by  which  it  was  distinguished  firom 
the  Azzurro  della  Magna,  which  certainly  does  not 
occur  in  Theophilus,  the  Lucca  MS.,  the  Clavicula,  or 

Moon  in  Spain.  The  prospects  of  Cordova  continued  to  increase  until  the 
dissensionB  which  distracted  the  Moorish  power  in  Spun,  towards  the  close 
of  the  tenth  century.  After  that  period  it  continued  to  decline  until  the 
expulsion  of  the  Moors  in  1236.  The  trade  in  Cordovan  leather  was  then 
nestfly  destroyed,  and  the  Moors  carried  it  with  them  to  Morocco. 

I  See  also  pp.  96,  97,  98. 

s  '  Materials  for  a  History  of  Painting  in  Oil,'  pp.  49-57,  and  552-561. 

VOL.  !•  N 


178  MANUSCBIFTS  OP  JEHAN  LE  6EGT7E. 

S.  Audemar,  and  I  think  not  in  the  first  or  second 
books^  of  Eraclius.  Brazil  wood  also  is  mentioned  in 
the  third  book  of  Eraclius,  and  in  S.  Audemar,  but 
not  in  Theophilus,  the  Lucca  MS.,  or  the  Glavicnla. 

The  probability  is,  that  the  third  part  was  written 
after  the  Clavicula,"  and  shortly  before  the  MS.  of 
TheophiluSy  who  appears  not  only  to  have  introduced 
some  of  the  metrical  parts  of  the  work  into  his  own ; 
but  it  seems  probable  that  he  had  the  third  book  before 
him  when  he  composed  his  own  second  book,  although 
he  has  enlarged,  and  I  must  say,  very  much  improved 
upon  his  original,  which  I  think  I  can  trace  in  se- 
veral chapters  of  the  second  book  of  Theophilus,  and 
I  also  think  that  three  of  the  missing  chapters  men- 
tioned in  the  table  of  contents  of  the  second  book  of 
Theophilus  will  be  found  in  the  MS.  of  Eraclius.  Eed 
glass,  called  ^^  Gallienum,"  and  green  glass,  are  de- 
scribed  in  No.  VII.,  and  blue  glass  in  No.  VIII. 
and  No.  XLIX.  of  Eraclius.' 

The  extracts  from  Isidore  relative  to  glass  are 
contained  in  both  MSS.,  those  relating  to  pigments 
are  in  the  Le  Begue  MS.  only.  Some  of  these  are 
abstracted  in  so  imperfect  a  manner,  as  to  be  scarcely 

1  The  lazur  mentioned  in  the  eecond  book  seems  to  have  been  native 
carbonate  of  copper,  and  not  lapis  lazuli,  because  it  turned  black  in  the  fire, 

*  The  date  of  Sir  T.  Phillips's  copy  of  the  Oavicula  (the  onljr  one 
known)  is  of  the  twelfth  century,  but  the  earliest  copies  of  Eraclius  and 
Theophilus  are  of  the  thirteenth  century.  There  is,  however,  internal 
evidence  of  the  Clavicula  being  older  than  the  third  book  of  Eradios,  espe- 
cially those  parts  which  relate  to  painting  in  oil,  and  which  are  found  in  the 
Paris  MS.  only. 

3  The  fourth  of  the  missing  chapters  (De  Coloribus  qui  fiunt  ex  cupro  et 
plumbo  et  sale)  seems  to  be  contained  in  cap.  xxxi.  of  the  second  book  of 
Theophilus,  entitled  *  De  Anulis,'  where  we  find  the  following  words  :— 
*'  Deinde  acquire  tibi  cineres,  sal,  pulverem  cupri,  et  plumbum.'* 


BRAOUUS.  179 

intelligible.  It  is  easy,  however,  to  perceive  tihat  Nos. 
L.  to  LY.  inclusive,  are  an  abridgment  of  Chapters 
VII. — XIV.  of  the  7th  book  of  Vitruvius,  interspersed 
occasionally  with  a  few  original  observations  relative  to 
«.!«„.  Jerdly,  ««i  to  .  few  pigmen,.  which  were 
employed  during  the  middle  ages. 

Chapters  LVL  and  LVIII.  appear  to  be  transla- 
tions from  some  MS.  of  B}rzantine  Art,  which  was  cur- 
rent wherever  painting  was  practised  at  this  time,  and 
parte  of  which  also  appear,  with  the  variatioas  likely  to 
be  met  with  in  translations  by  different  persons,  and 
perhaps  by  persons  of  different  nations,  from  the  same 
original,  in  the  Clavicula,  in  the  MS.  of  S.  Audemar,  in 
the  appendix  to  the  Theophilus  of  the  British  Museum, 
and  at  the  greatest  length  in  the  Sloane  MS.,  No.  1754. 

From  the  fact  of  all  these  translations  appearing  in 
MSS.  of  northern  origin  (always  supposing  Theophilus 
to  have  been  a  German),  and  of  the  white  pigment  so 
frequently  mentioned  being  called  Album  de  PuUia,  or 
Apuleya,  I  have  formed  the  opinion  that  the  original 
MS.  of  Byzantine  art  was  written  by  a  Greco-Italian 
of  the  Duchy  of  Benevento  (which  included  Apulia), 
and  that  the  MS.  was  perhaps  communicated  by  some 
descendant  of  the  Norman  followers  of  Robert  Guis- 
eard  ^  to  the  Normans  settled  in  the  west  of  Europe. 

1  In  1002  or  1003  the  Normans  first  landed  in  the  Neapolitan  territory : 
in  1015  they  nuide  their  first  settlement  there.  In  1019  the  Nomans 
mder  Raynulf,  uniting  with  the  Lombards  and  Greeks,  drove  the  Saracens 
out  of  Sicily ;  and  the  Greeks,  who,  on  the  arrival  of  the  Normans,  were  in 
possesnon  of  about  two-thirds  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  re-established 
themselves,  and  made  a  distinct  province  in  the  western  part  of  Apulia, 
under  the  name  of  Capitanata.  In  1056  Robert  Guiscard,  the  Norman, 
was  made  Duke  of  Apulia,  and  his  successors  continued  to  enjoy  the 
dignity  until  1195,  when  the  Normans  submitted  to  the  Emperor. 

N  2 


180  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEGUE. 

After  a  careful  perusal  of  the  MS.  attributed  to  Era- 
clius^  I  have  formed  the  following  conclusions : — 

That  it  is  a  collection  of  works  on  art^  somewhat  of 
the  same  nature  as  the  MS.  of  Le  Begue. 

That  the  metrical  parts  only  constituted  the  Treatise 
de  Coloribus  et  Artibus  Romanorum  of  Eraclius,  and 
that  this  part  is  more  ancient  than  great  part  of  the 
third  book 

That  the  third  book  consists  of  a  miscellaneous  col- 
lection of  works  on  art,  which  may  be  arranged  under 
three  heads :  first  of  an  abridgment  or  paraphrase  from 
y itru vius  and  Isidore  on  making  glass  and  on  colours ; 
secondly,  of  some  translations  of  a  Greek  or  Byzantine 
MS. ;  and  thirdly,  of  original  matter,  or  of  recipes 
collected  from  contemporary  artists,  many  of  which 
appear  to  be  of  French  origin. 

That  these  MSS.  fell  into  the  hands  of  some  person 
who  did  for  them  what  Le  Begue  did  for  the  collection 
of  Alcherius,  namely,  united  them  into  one  work,  and 
who  also  extended  to  the  whole  work  the  title  which 
was  probably  intended  for  the  first  and  second  books 
only.  I  think  there  is  some  proof  of  this  in  ike  epithet 
added  in  both  MSS.  to  the  name  of  Eraclius,  **  Vir  sa- 
pientissimus,**  which,  whatever  might  have  been  the 
opinion  of  Eraclius  relative  to  his  own  abilities — and 
he  certainly  did  not  underrate  them — he  would  scarcely 
have  ventured  to  place  there  himselC 

I  think  it  of  some  importance  to  the  arts  that  the 
time  of  Eraclius  should  be  fixed.  If  my  reasons  are 
not  satisfactory,  I  shall  probably  be  corrected  by  those 
more  skilled  than  myself  on  this  subject 


EXPLANATION  OF  SYMBOLS 

BEFEBSED  TO  IN  THE  NOTES  TO  THE  TBBATI8E  OF  EBACLIU8. 


P.  denotes  the  MS.  in  the  Royal  Library  at  Paris. 

R.  the  MS.  publbhed  by  Raspe. 

W.  the  chapters  printed  by  Wecker,  and  by  him  ascribed  to  Amaldus  de 
Yillanova  and  MarceUus  Palingenius. 

T.  the  chapters  of  Eraclius  found  in  the  MS.  of  Theophilus  in  the  Har- 
leian  Collection  at  the  British  Museum, 

(T.)  those  chapters  of  which  a  prose  version  is  given  in  the  last-mentioned 
MS. 

S.  the  chapters  of  the  third  book  of  Eraclius  contained  in  the  MS.  No.  1754, 
of  the  Sloane  Collection  at  the  British  Museum. 

C.  the  chapters  of  the  third  book  of  Eraclius  contained  in  the  treatise 
called  *  Mappee  Clavicula.* 

Cant  The  MS.  formerly  at  Cambridge,  but  now  in  the  Britieh  Museum. 


(     182    ) 


HEBE  BEOINS  THE 


FIRST  AND  METRICAL  BOOK  OF  ERACUUS, 


A  T£BT  WISE  MAN, 


ON  THE  COLOURS  AND  ABTS  OF  THE  ROMANS. 


AMD   FIH8T  THE 


INTRODUCTION. 


I  have  described,  brother,  yarious  flowers  for  your  use,  as 
I  best  could.  I  faaye  added  to  the  flowers  the  arts  which  relate 
to,  and  are  proper  for  writing ;  to  which,  if  you  pay  attention, 
you  will  find  them  true  in  practice.  I  indeed  write  nothing  to 
you,  which  I  have  not  first  tried  myself.  The  greatness  of  in- 
tellect, for  which  the  Roman  people  was  once  so  eminent,  has 
faded,  and  the  care  of  the  wise  senate  has  perished.  Who  can 
now  investigate  these  arts  ?  Who  is  now  able  to  show  us  what 
these  artificers,  powerful  by  their  immense  intellect,  discovered 
for  themselves  ?  He  who,  by  his  powerful  virtue,  holds  the 
keys  of  the  mind,  divides  the  pious  hearts  of  men  among  various 
arts. 


(     183    ) 


INdPIT 


-PRIMUS  ET  METMCUS '  IBER  ERACLH, 

8APIENTI88IHI  TOU. 

DB  COLOBIBUS  ET  ARTIBUS  BOMAKOfiUH. 

■T  PKOCO 

PROHEMIUM." 


Ut  potui  levius  yarios  tibi  frater  ad  usus 
Descripsi  flores,  adjeci  floribus  artes^ 
Congrua  scriptoris  quae  sunt,  et  idonea'  scriptds^ 
Que  si  perpendis,  utendo  vera  probabis. 
1^1  tibi  scribo  quidem,  quod^  non  prius  ipse  probassem. 
Jam  decus  ingenii  quod^  plebs  Romana  probatur 
Decidit,  ut  periit  sapientum  cura  senatum. 
Quis  nunc  has  artes  investigare  valebit, 
Quas  isti  artifices^  immensa  mente^  potentes, 
Invenere  sibi,  potens  est  ostendere  nobis  ? 
Qui  tenet  ingenii  cktves  rirtute  potenti 
Inyarias  artes  resecat  pia  corda  virorum. 


'  Pfimui  et  metricus  omittit  R.      >  Et  primo  prohematm,  omittit  R. 
*  Idone  R    «  Qm  R.    »  Mene  R. 


184  MANUSCBIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BBGTJE. 

11.  How  various  colours  jit  for  vrriting  are  made  from 

ivUd  flowers} 

He  who  wishes  to  convert  flowers  into  the  yarious  colours 
which,  for  the  purpose  of  writing,  the  page  of  the  book  demands, 
must  wander  over  the  corn-fields  early  in  the  morning,  and  then 
he  will  find  various  flowers  fresh  sprung  up.  Let  him  make 
haste  to  pluck  them  for  himself;  and  when  he  gets  home,  let 
him  take  care  not  to  mix  them  together,  but  let  him  do  what 
this  art  demands  [namely],  grind  these  flowers  upon  a  smooth 
stone,  and  grind  raw  gypsum  along  ¥rith  them.  So  you  can 
preserve  these  colours  dry.  And  if  you  wish  to  change  the 
colour  to  green,  mix  lime  with  the  flowers.  You  will  then  see 
what  I  have  bid  you  [do],  which  is  as  I  have  already  tried  it 

myself. 

>  See  Theoph.,  E.  Ed.,  p.  392.    Wecker,  p.  643. 

The  early  painters  were  accustomed  to  prepare  many  yegetable  pigments 
for  painting  in  miniature.  Indeed  there  are  scarcely  any  plants  which 
yield  colouring  juices,  which  have  not,  at  some  period,  been  used  lor  this 
purpose.  The  process  employed  in  the  text  was  simple  enough :  it  con- 
sisted in  grinding  the  flowers  first  by  themselves  and  then  with  sulphate  of 
lime,  which,  while  it  gave  body  to  the  vegetable  pigments,  did  not  aflect 
the  colours.  The  text  shows  that  the  effects  of  lime  in  changing  v^[etable 
blues  to  greens,  even  at  that  early  period,  were  well  understood. 


III.  To  paint  earthen  vases} 

If  any  one  wishes  to  paint  vases  with  glass,  [let  him  grind 
Roman  glass  well  on  marble,  and  when  it  is  like  dust,  let  him 
paint  earthen  vases  with  it,  with  the  clear  fatness  of  gum,  mixed 
with  spring  water ;  and  when  dry,  send  them  to  the  furnace. 
Let  the  earth  [clay]  be  good,  so  as  to  stand  the  fire ;  and  at 
length  he  will  take  out  of  the  fiimace  shining  vases  good  enough 
for  kings.]  Let  him  choose  for  himself  two  stones  of  red  marble, 
between  which  let  him  grind  the  Roman  glass,  and  when  it  is 

1  SceTheoph.,  E.  £d.,  p.  3d8;  and  Wecker,  p.  644. 


ERACLnJS  DE  COLORIBUS  ET  ARTIBUS  ROMANORUM.    185 

n.  Quomodo  fiant  diver  si  colorea  defloribus  campestrir 

bus  ad  scribendum  apti} 

Flores  in  yarios  qui  vult  mutare  colores, 
Causa  scribendi  quos*  libri  pagina  poscit, 
Est  opus  ut  segetes  in  summo  mane  pererret, 
£t  tunc^  diversos  flores  ortuque  recentes 
Inreniet  properetque  sibi*  decerpere  eosdem. 
Cumque  domum^  fuerit,"  caveat  ne  ponat  in  unum 
nios,  sed  faciat  quod^  talis  res^  sibi  poscit' 
Desuper^®  equalem  petram  contriveris  istos 
Flores  ;  incoctum  pariter  turn"  contere"  gypsum** 
Sic  tibi  siccatos  poteris  servare  colores. 
Ex  quibus  in  viridem  si  vis  mutare  colorem,'^ 
Calcem  commisce  cum  floribus ;  inde  videbis^^ 
Quod  tibi  mandayi,  veluti  prius  ipse*^  probavi. 

^Sic  P. ;  R.  et  T.  habent  de  floribus  ad  scribendum;  W.  Carmen  de 
floribiu  seu  cohribus,  ad  scribendum^  ptngendum,  &c.  *  Quis  P.  *  Et 
iMer  R.  *  SOd  omittunt  P.  R.  »  Dmni  W.  T.  •  Fuerint  T.  »  Qua  P.  R. 
■  QiM  W.  •  Toscit  vd  qwtrit  T.  »•  Jhm  super  W.  T.  »>  Tu  P.  R. 
"  CmgersT.  "  Sic  W.  T. ;  Gipsum  P.  R.  "  Recentem  W.  »  Banc 
Iraeani  omittit  W.,  errore  foraan  typographioo.  **  Veluti  prius  ipse  W. ; 
verum  vdut  ipse  P.  R. ;  vehOi  ipse  T. 


III.  Ad  vasajictilia  dqmigenda} 

E  vitro*  si  quis  depingere  vascula'  quserit, 
[Vitrum*  Romanum  bene  marmore  conterat,  et  cum 
Ut  pulvis  fiierit,  claro  pinguedine  gummi, 
Fontis  aqua  mista,  figulorum  vascula  pingat, 
Siccaque  fornaci  mandes :  sit  terra  probata 
Quffi  valeat  fiammis  obstare,  nitentia  tandem 
Begibus  apta  satis  ex  fiimo  vascula  toilet] 
Eligat  ipse  dues  rufo  de'  marmore  petras 

*  Sic  W. ;  De  preciosa  pictura  vitri  R. ;  De  piciura  ex  vitro  T. ;  Quo- 
modofialtB  terrea  ex  preciosa  pictura  de  vitri  bitundne  facta  omantur  P. 

•  Ex  vitro  T. ;  De  vitro  W. ;   De  vitro  flalas  P.      •  Vascula  omittit  P. 

*  In  [  ]  inclusa  in  W.  solum  conUnentur.    *  De  rufo  T. 


186  MANUSCRIFTB  OF  JKHAK  LB  BBGUE. 

pulvemed  as  fine  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,  let  him  make  it  liqmd 
with  the  clear  £a.tnes8  of  gum.  After  this  let  him  paint  the 
vessels,  which  the  workman  has  finely  moulded  in  day,  and  when 
they  are  dry,  let  him  put  them  into  the  furnace.  And  let  him 
take  care  to  put  them  into  [vessels  of']  good  clay,  that  they 
may  thus  he  able  to  check  the  heat,  and  make  ihem  shining 
with  perfect  beauty. 

'  Compare  with  the  last  sentence  in  No.  III.  lib.  liL 


IV.   Of  sculpturing  ghss.^ 

O  all  you  artists,  who  wish  to  engrave  in  a  beautiful  manner 
on  glass,  I  will  now  show  you  what  I  myself  have  tried.  I 
sought  fat  worms,  which  the  plough  turns  up  from  the  earth ; 
and  the  art  useful  in  these  things  bid  me  at  the  same  time  seek 
vinegar,  and  the  warm  blood  of  a  large  he-goat,  whidi  I  had 
cunningly  fed  for  a  short  time  on  strong  ivy,  tied  up  under  cover. 
After  this,  I  threw  the  worms  and  vinegar  into  the  warm  blood, 
and  anointed  all  the  bright  shining  vessel,  afier  which  I  tried  to 
carve  the  glass  with  the  hard  stone  called  pyrites. 


^  See  Theoph.,  £.  Ed.,  p.  396 ;  and  Wecker,  p.  644. 


V.   OfphicUs  decorated  with  gold. 

The  Romany  made  themselves  phials  of  glass,  artfully  varied 
with  gold,  very  precious,  to  which  I  gave  great  pains  and  atten- 


SRACUUS  DE  C0L0KIBU8  ET  ARTIBTJS  ROMANORUM.    187 

Inter  quas  Titrnm  Bomanum  oonterat,'  et  cum 
Ut  pulvis  terrae  fuerit  pariter  resolutum, 
Hoc  faciat '  liquidum  clara  pinguedine  gammi 
Post  baec'  depingat  petulas^  quas  finxit  honeste 
Hgulus.    Hoc  fieu^to  succensse  imponat^  eaBdem 
Fornaci,  caveatque  simul  quod^  terra  probata 
Has  teneat,  quo''  sic  valeat'  obstare  calori^ 
nias  que  faciat'^  plena  virtute  nitentes. 

« 

»  Qmteret  P.  R.  W.  »  Faciet  P.  R.  •  Post  hoc  P.  W.  *  Sic  P.  R. 
Pagmtu  T. ;  Peadas  W.  ^  Figuhts  e  terra;  dccatas ponOt  W.  *  Qukb 
P.  R. ;  jw  T.  7  Qua  W.  »  Valeant  W.  T.  »  CoUm  P.  R.  »  Sic  T. ; 
lUcaquefatiet  W.  P. ;  lUas  qui  fades  R. 


IV.  De  sculptura  vitri? 

O  Yos  artifices  qui  sculpere  vultis  honeste* 
Vitrum,  nunc  vobis  pandam,'  velut  ipse  probavi, 
Vermes  quffisivi  pingues  quos  vertit  aratrum 
Ex  terra,^  atque  simul  me  qu^rere  jussit^  acetum 
Utilis  ars  istis  rebus,  calidum  que'  cruorem 
Ex  hirco*^  ingenti,  quern  sellers"  tempore  parvo 
Ex  faedera"  forti  pavi  tecto  religatum. 
Sanguine  cum  calido ;  post  haec^^  yermes  et  acetum 
Infiidi,^^  ac  totam  fialam  clare  renitentem 
Unxi ;  quo  facto,  temptavi  ^  sculpere  vitrum 
Cum  duro  lapide  piritis"  nomine  dicto. 

^  Sic  R.  and  T. ;  De  Sculptura  vitri,  quomodo  fit  P. ;  Modus  pmgendi 
rasa,  et  intra  W.  *  HonestiW.  *  Pandam  vobis  W.  *  JE  terra  F.B,.; 
Per  terrain  T.  *  Sic  W. ;  Jussit  me  quterere  alii.  •  Atque  W.  '  Hyrco  T. 
•  SoHto  quern  W.  ^  Ex  Hedera  W. ;  ex  herba  P.  R.;  herba  ex hedera  T. 
^^PosihocV.  ^^InfondiF.  ^*  Quo  pacto  tentam  W .  ^  Piritis,  tic  R. 
P.T.;  SmerimW. 


V.  Dejialia  auro  decoratis} 

Somani  fialas,  auro  caute  variatas, 
£«x  yitro  fecere  sibi,  nimium  preciosas ; 

*  J>efiaUs  vitri  auro  deccrandis  P. 


188  HANUSGRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BE0T7B. 

tion,  and  had  my  mind's  eye  fixed  upon  them  day  and  night, 
that  I  might  thus  attain  the  art  by  which  the  phials  shone  8o 
bright;  I  at  length  discovered  what  I  will  explain  to  you,  my 
dearest  friend.  I  found  gold-leaf  carefully  inclosed  between  the 
double  glass.^  When  I  had  often  knowingly  looked  at  it,  being 
more  and  more  troubled  about  it,  I  obtained  some  phials  shinmg 
with  clear  glass,  which  I  anointed  with  the  fatness  of  gum  with 
a  paint-brush.  Having  done  this,  I  began  to  lay  leaf-gold  upon 
them,  and  when  they  were  dry  I  engraved  birds  and  men  and 
lions  upon  them,  as  I  thought  proper.  Having  done  this,  I 
placed  over  them  glass  made  thin  with  fire  by  skillul  blowing. 
After  they  had  felt  the  heat  thoroughly,  the  thinned  glass  ad- 
hered  properly  to  the  phials. 

*  A  small  design  in  gold  and  silver  is  mentioned  by  Count  Cay  las  in  hit 
work  entitled  *  Recueil  d'Antiqaitds,'  torn.  iii.  p.  193,  which  is  tboogfat  to 
be  enclosed  between  two  strata  of  glass,  probably  in  the  manner  described 
in  the  text.  One  stratum  of  the  glass  mentioned  by  Cajrlus  was  blue,  the 
other  was  colourless.  From  the  recipe  in  the  text,  it  may  be  conjectured 
that  this  method  of  gilding  on  glass  was  followed  by  the  Romans,  and  esrly 
Italian  school,  which  existed  contemporaneously,  although  independcndj  of 
the  Byzantine  school,  at  the  time  when  the  MS.  of  Eraclius  was  written. 
The  process  taught  by  Theophilus  (lib.  ii.  cap.  xiii.),  and  usually  adopted 
in  the  Florentine  school  of  Mosaic  painters,  who  were  taught  by  the  Byzan- 
tine Greeks,  appears  to  have  been  different  See  Lettera  di  Brandii  al 
Prof.  Ciampi,  Notizie  Inedite,  &c.,  p.  25,  n. 


VI.  Of  engraving  precious  Stones} 

Whoever  wishes  to  cut  with  iron  the  precious  stones  in  which 
the  kings  of  the  Roman  city  (who  anciently  held  the  arts  io 
high  estimation)  much  delighted,  upon  gold,  let  him  learn  the 
discovery  which  I  made  with  profound  thought,  for  it  is  very 
precious.  I  procured  urine,  with  the  fresh  blood  of  a  huge  he- 
goat,  fed  for  a  short  time  upon  ivy,  which  being  done,  I  cut 
the  gems  in  the  warm  blood,  as  directed  by  Pliny,  the  author 
who  wrote  upon  the  arts  which  the  Boman  people  pat  to  proof, 
and  who  also  well  described  the  virtues  of  stones ;  of  which  he 
>  See  Theoph.,  £.  £d.,  p.  402;  and  Wecker,  p.  42S. 


SRACUUS  DE  COLORIBUS  £T  ARTIBUS  BOMANORUM.    189 

Erga  quas  gessi  cum  summa  mente  laborem, 
Atque  oculos  cordis  super  has  noctuque  dieque  ^ 
IntentoB  habui,  quo  sic  attingere  possem 
Hanc  artem,  per  quam  fialse  valde  renitebant;' 
Tandem  perfexi  tibi  quod  Carissime  pandam. 
Inyem  petolas"  inter  yitrum  duplicatum 
Inclusas  eaute.     Cum  sellers  sepius  illud 
Visu  lustrassem,  super  hoc  magis  et  magis  ipse 
Commotus,  quasdam  claro  vitro  renitentes 
Quaesivi  fialas  mihi/  quas  pinguedine  gummi 
Unxi  pincello.     Quo  facto^  imponere  cepi 
Ex  auro  petulas  super  illas ;  utque*  fuere 
Siccatae  volucres  homines  pariterque  leones 
Inscripsi  ut  sensi ;  quo  facto  desuper  ipsas 
Armavi''  vitrum  docto  flatu  tenuatum 
Ignis ;  sed  postquam  pariter  sensere  calorem 
Se  vitrum  fialis*  tenuatum  junxit  honeste. 

'JXtimsF.    *NitebantF.    *  PacuktsV.    *MickiP.    ^Exauromaie 
sappletR.    •Atgue?,    ''OmaviT.    ^  FiaksB,. 


VI.  De  preciosorum  lapidum  incisione} 

Qui  cupit  egregios '  lapides  irrumpere  ferro 
Quos  dilexerunt  nimium  reges  ^  super  aurum 
Urbis  Romance,  qui  celsas  jam  tenuere 
Artes,^  ingenium  quod  ego  sub  mente  profunda 
Inyeniy  accipiat'  quoniam  valde  est*  preciosum. 
Urinam '  mihi  quasivi,  pariterque  cruorem 
Ex  hirco  ingenti,  modico  sub  tempore  pasto 
Herba,  quo  facto,  calefacto  sanguine  gemmas 
Inddi,  veluti  monstravit  ^  Plinius  •  auctor. 
Artes  qui  scripsit  quas  plebs  Romana  probavit, 

^  Sic  P.  R.  De  sadpendis  gemnda  T.  Gemmarum  sectio  W,  *  Egre- 
gioW.  Alleges  mmium  W.T.  *  ArceaW.  ^CcgnantW.  •  Sic  P. ; 
eat  omittet  R. ;  T.  habet  quern  valde  est ;  et  W.,  quomam  nimis  est.  ?  Uri- 
dam  R.      ^  Monstrante  R.      '  Plenim  P. 


190  MANTTSCRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEQXTE. 

who  knows  the  powers,  esteems  them  most  For  the  first  kings, 
who  anciently  held  the  city,  adorned  with  gems  tfadr  garments, 
gleaming  with  gold ;  of  these  the  most  remarkable  was  Anre- 
lian,  who  interwove  his  own  robes  with  gems  and  gold. 


vn.  Of  golden  writing} 

Whoever  wishes  to  execute  beautiful  writing  with  gold,  let 
him  read  what  I  say  in  lowly  verse.  Let  him  grind  gold  with 
pure  wine,  until  it  is  well  dissolved.  Then  let  him  wash  it 
frequently,  for  the  white  page  of  the  book  demands  this,  and 
then  make  it  [liquid]  with  the  fiitness  of  ox  [gall,  if  he  pleases, 
or  with  the  clear  fatness  of  gum] ;  and  I  also  request  him  to 
stir  it  with  a  reed  when  he  uses  the  gold,  if  he  wishes  to  write 
beautifully.  When  the  writing  is  dry,  let  him  make  it  very 
brilliant  with  the  tooth  of  a  savage  bear. 

>  See  Theoph.,  £.  £d.,  p.  392. 


vm.  Of  ivy  and  lake} 

The  strong  ivy  is  very  useful  for  these  purposes.  Our  an- 
cestors were  very  fond  of  its  leaves  as  a  mark  of  honour :  it 
was  used  as  a  crown  for  poets.   In  the  spring  all  things  rejoice, 

1  See  Theoph.,  £.  £d.,  p.  394. 

It  appears  that  the  resinous  juice  exudes  from  the  ivy  in  warm  countries 
only.  See  Nemnich,  Polyglotten-Lexicon,  TU,  Hedera.  *  It  will  be  ob- 
served, that  the  juice,  when  it  first  flowed  from  the  ivy,  was  not  red,  but 
that  it  gradually  acquired  that  colour. 


ERAdJUS  DB  COLORIBTJS  ET  ABTIBUS  R0MAN0HT7M.   191 

Atque  siinul  lapidum  Tirtutes  scripeit  honeste, 
Qa(Hram  qui  noscit^  vires,  plus'  diligit  illos. 
Nam  primi  reges,  urbem  qui  jam  tenuerunt' 
Gemmis  ornarunt  vestes  auro  renitentes. 
Ex  quibus  insignis  primus  fiiit  Aurelianus 
Qui  proprias  vestes  gemmis  contexit  et  auro/ 

» Sic  T.  W. ;  iiejdif  R.  P.  «ilfwiMR.  P.  •  IhmereB,.?.  <  Hob 
qoatuor  venus  ultunos  omittit  W.,  et  eorum  loco  ponit  "  Primus  ait  versus 
quot  habit  sententia  sensus.^* 


vn.  De  aurea  scriptura. 

Scripturam  pulcram  quisquis  bene  scribere  quserit,  ^ 
Ex  aurOy  legat  hoc  quod*  vili  carmine  dico. 
Aurum  cum  puro  mero'  molat,  usque  solutum 
Hoc  *  nimiimi  fuerit.    Tunc  sepius  abluat  illud  ;  * 
Nam  quia*  deposcit  hoc  candens  pa^a  libri. 
Exin  taurini  fSax^iaf  pinguedine  [fellis* 
Hoc  liquidum,  si  vult,  sen  cum  pinguedine]  gummi. 
Atque  rogo  pariter  calamo  cum  ceperit  aurum 
Illud*  commoveat,  pulchre  si  scribere  quaeritf 
EGnc  siccata  sicut  ^^  fuerit  scriptura,  nitentem 
Hanc  ^^  nimium  fisu;iat  ursi  cum  dente  feroci. 

'  jSi  guis  scripturam  qucBrit  sibi  scribere  pulcram  T.  ■  Hie  quoe  R. 
•  Mere  T.,  Menio  P. ;  omittit  R.  *  Hoc  T. ;  omittunt  R.  P.  *  Sic  R.  P. 
MoneoguodscBpeUwetiUudT.  •  Namque'R.,?.  7  FacietK.?.  •ExT. 
In  R.  P.  male  omissum.    •  lUumT.    ^^SedutT.    ^^  HuncT, 


vni.  J)e  edera  et  lacca} 


Propositis  rebus  edere  satis  utile  robur. 
Hujus  enim  *  frondem  nimium  coluere  priores 
Ad  titulum  laudis ;  erat  ipsa  corona  poetis. 
Vere  novo,  reduci  cum  gaudent  *  omnia  succo, 

» Sic  &. ;  in  P.  vero  De  edera  herba  et  lacca  succo  ^  rubeo  ab  ipsa 
exemUi.     *  UtH.     '  Cktm  gaudent  P.     Conffoudent  R. 


192  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BBGUE. 

being  refreshed  with  new  sap ;  and  the  spring  brings  back  the 
moisture  to  the  trees,  while  the  winter  refuses  them  the  power 
of  growing.  The  ivy  is  similarly  affected ;  for  the  offihoots  of 
the  branches,  pushed  into  barren  places,  give  out  a  juice, 
which,  whoever  collects,  should  put  into  a  red  vase  of  baked 
earth,  and  it  will  gradually  assume  a  blood  colour.  TUs  the 
painter  loves,  and  the  scribe  equally  delights  in.  Hence  also 
is  made  the  parcia  dyed  with  a  rose  colour.  It  also  serves  to 
dye  the  skins  of  goats  and  sheep. 


IX,  Of  golddeafj  how  it  is  laid  on  ivory .^ 

You  will  decorate  carvings  in  ivory  with  gold-leaf.  Now 
hear  in  what  manner  this  thing  is  done.  Seek  to  obtain  the 
fish  which  is  called  "  huso,"'  and  keep  its  air-bladder  liquefied 
by  being  boiled  in  water,  and  with  this  mark  over  the  place 
where  you  wish  to  lay  the  gold ;  and  you  will  thus  easily  be 
able  to  fasten  it  to  the  ivory. 

1  See  Theo^.,  £.  Ed.,  p.  404 ;  and  Wecker,  p.  645. 

'  The  Huao  or  HuBon  (Acipenaer  Huso)  was  the  large  sturgeoo  from 
which  binglan  is  procured.  It  was  the  IchthyocoUa  of  Pliny ;  the  Itdocdla, 
Usone,  Colpesce,  of  the  Italians ;  the  Copese  of  the  Venetians ;  the  Isin- 
glass fish  of  the  English ;  the  Huizenblasfisk  of  the  Dutch ;  Der  Hsiaen 
of  the  Germans ;  and  the  Bjeluga  of  the  Russians.  See  Nemnich,  Polyg. 
Lexicon. 


X.  How  gems  are  polished.^ 

If  you  wish  to  give  a  sinning  splendour  to  gems,  obtain  for 
yourself  a  piece  of  smooth  marble,  and  lest  it  may  be  injured 
by  this,  lay  it  on  the  gem  and  rub  it  gently,  and  a  polish  will 
be  ^ven  to  the  stone.  The  harder  it  is,  the  brighter  polish  will 
it  take. 

1  JSee  Theoph.,  E.  Ed.,  p.  402 ;  and  see  Wecker,  p.  645. 


ERACLITJS  BE  COLORIBUS  ET  ARTIBU8  ROMANORUM.    193 

ArboribuBque  refert  humor,  qiias  bruma  negabat 
Crescendi  vires,  ederam  talis  probat  ordo. 
Nam  subula  rami,  loca  per  deserta  forati, 
Emittunt  viscum,  quern  qui  sibi  sumpserit  ilium, 
Transferet  in  rubeam  coctum  prurigine  ^  formam  ; 
Sanguineumque  sibi  leviter  capit  ille  colorem. 
Hunc  sibi  pictor  araat  et  scriptor  diligit  eque. 
Hinc  etiam  roseo  fit  parcia  tincta  *  colore. 
QuaB  '  quoque  caprinas,  quae  ^  pelles  tingit  ovinas. 

*  Prurigme  P. ;  id  R.  lacuna  relicta  sic — . . ,  .rigine.    ■  Parva  tinctura 
P.    *  Quam  R. 


IX.  De  petula  auri,  quomodo  in  ebore  mittatur} 

Sculpturas  eboris  auri  petulis  '  decorabis 

Quo  tamen  ipsa  tibi '  res  ordine  congruat  audi. 

Quaere  tibi  piscem  qui  dicitur  usa  ^  liquentem 

Vesicam  tamen  '  serva  cum  flumine  coctam 

Inde  locum  petulam  cui '  vis  componere  signa 

Sic  ebori  facile  poteris  ipsam  consolidare. 

*  Sic  R. ;  Quomodo  petula  auri  in  ebore  mittatur,  et  cum  quo  visco  P. ; 
De  pictura  dforis  W.,  qui  hunc  vereum  caeteris  premittit — ^^Pingere  si  quis 
ebur  rndtak  procedure  debet,*'  «  Pecula  W.  •  T3n  omittunt  R.  P.  *  Sic 
P. ;  Hma  W. ;  R.  lacunam  habet  «  Tantum  P. ;  W.  vera  habet  Ven- 
cam  ierva  decoctamjhamnis  undo.  '  Petutam  quern  P. ;  Pecula  quern  W,, 
qui  leqaentem  versum  omittit. 


X.  De  gemmis  quomodo  lucidce  jiunt} 

Si  vis  splendentem  gemmis  inferre  nitorem  ^ 
Partem  quaere  tibi  tantummodo  marmoris  aequi 
Gemma  superposita  petrae,  sed  flumine  pauco 
Hinc  ne  laedatur,  tractu  leviore  limetur.* 
Quanto  durescit,  tanto  magis  ipsa  nitescit.^ 

*  Sic  P. ;  De  gemmis  quomodo  luceant  R. ;  GemmtB  ut  rutescant  W. 
'  Colorem  P.  R.  ^  Sic  emcndavi.  W.  habet  *'  Gemma  supposita  petrtB,  sed 
fluminepauco :  sed  ne  kBdatur,  tractu  leniore  Hmetur.**  P.  et  R.  vero  **Hinc 
ne  kedaturf  tactu  leviore  limetur  Cremma  superposito,  sedpetre  lumine  tracto.'* 
*  NUescU  P. ;  AccescU  R. ;  Nitdnt  W. 

VOL.  I.  O 


194  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHA.N  LE  BEGTJB. 

XI.   Of  a  green  colour  for  writing} 

If  you  wish  to  embellish  your  writing  with  a  green  colour, 
mix  vinegar  together  with  strong  honey,  and  then  cover  up  the 
vase  itself  in  very  hot  dung ;  and  so  take  it  out  after  twelve 
days  shall  have  elapsed. 

■  See  Theopb.,  £.  Ed.,  p.  396. 

The  vase  mentioned  in  this  chapter  must  have  been  of  copper  or  brass. 
The  colour  produced  in  that  case  virould  have  been  verdigris,  which  is  an 
acetate  of  copper. 


XII.  How  to  cut  crystal} 

Crystal  can  easily  be  cut  by  the  following  artifice : — Seek 
for  yourself  a  convenient  plate  of  lead,  and  join  two  boards  to 
it,  one  on  each  side,  with  a  centre  piece  of  iron,  so  as  to  keep 
the  lead  steady  ;  for  to  the  lead  alone  belongs  the  business  of 
cutting,  and  the  outer  plates  are  as  guides  to  make  it  run 
round  evenly.  But  you  would  not  be  able  to  overcome  sudi 
great  hardness  by  the  unassisted  softness  of  the  lead,  unless 
you  join  to  it  some  powder,  such  as  tlie  pulverized  fragment  of 
a  furnace^  which  you  will  be  able  to  fasten  to  the  tender  plate, 
for  this  addition  will  make  the  lead  sharp,  and  the  fragments 
of  brick  also  have  equal  force  ;  you  must  cut  it,  adding  to  it  a 
little  river  water.  But  let  the  blood  of  a  goat  first  temper  it, 
for  this  blood  makes  the  iron  so  hard  that  even  adamant  is  soft 
compared  with  it. 

^  See  Weeker,  p.  449. 

Compare  with  Theophilus,  Hb.  iii.  cap.  zciv.  (E.  Ed.,  p.  387).  CiTstal 
18  defined  by  Theophilus  to  be  *'  water  hardened  into  ice."  In  this,  Mr. 
Hendrie  observes,  he  has  repeated  the  opinion  of  Plinj.  The  term  *^  crys- 
tal "  was  also  applied  to  glass  made  from  pulverized  quartz  or  sand  fused 
with  an  alkali.  In  an  extract  from  the  book  of  Mr.  Colladon,  quoted  in 
the  Mayeme  MS.  and  by  Mr.  Hendrie  (Theoph.,  p.  180),  crystal  is  de- 
fined to  be  **  very  clear  glass  of  Venice." 


ERACLItlS  DB  C0L0RIBT7S  ET  ARTIBUS  ROMANORUM.    195 

xi»  De  viridi  colore  ad  scribendum} 

Si  quaeris  Tiridi  scriptura^  colore  notari, 
Acri  commissum  melli  miscebis  acetum  ; 
Hinc  yalde  calido  vas  ipsum  contege  fimo. 
Sic  et  bissenis  hoc  extrahe  solibua '  actis. 

'  Sic  R. ;  ad  scribeadum  qwmodofit  P.    '  Scripta  R.    "^  TaHbus  R. 


xiT.  Quoinodo  cristallum  possit  secari} 

Cristallum  tali  facile '  valet  arte  secari/ 
OpportUDa  *  tibi  quaeratur '  lamina  plumbi  f 
Huic  ^  etiam  binae  claves '  jungantur  utrinque,^ 
Ex  ferro  medium,  quae  firmant  ^^  undique  plumbum  ;*^ 
Nam  plumbo  soli "  tribuetur  cura  secandi. 
Ipsi  custodes  laminae  sint  exteriores, 
Ut  sibi  dent  rectum  recto  consumere  ^^  cursum. 
Sed  nee  duritiem  ^^  poteris  praerumpere  ^^  tantam 
MoUitie  plumbi,  nisi  quaedam  junxeris  ^^  illi 
Tanquam  pulverulas  fornacis  fragmine  micas  ^^ 
Quae  tenerae  poteris  laminae  connectere  plumbi  ^^ 
Haec  etenim  plumbum' conjunctio  reddet  ^*  acutum. 
At  quum  rursus  ^  habent  lateris  fragmenta  vigorem 
Concidis  adjuncta  paulatim  fluminis  unda*^ 
Sed"  vim  cristalli  cruor  antea  temperet  hirci 
Sanguis  enim  facilem  ferro  facit  hie  adamantem.*' 

*Sic  R.  Quomodo  cristallum  posHs  secare  P.  Cristalli  sectio  W. 
■  CristaUus  tah  durus  W.  ■  Parari  P.  '  *  Oportuna  P.  R.  *  QmBre- 
tur  W.  •  Ferri  P.  R.  '  Hinc  ?  P.  R.  •  Sic  R.  Bene  cUwas  P. ;  Bint 
daciVf,  ^UtrumqueV,  ^"^  Qui soUto medium consumentW.  ^^ Plumbi F. 
"Soto P.  R.  »  GifMonm P. R.  '* ZhtriciamR.  F.  ^^  ProrumpereVL^V, 
"  lu  emendavi.  Nee  quiddam  junxeris  R. ;  Nisi  quoddam  junxeris  P. ; 
Nisi  quadamjunxerit,  W.  "  Sic  P.  R. ;  Tanquam  pulvereas  fornacis  frag- 
mine mittas  W.  *"  Sic  W. ;  Contere,  quas  tenertB  poteris  [possis  P.]  con- 
nectere lamina  P.  R.  >*  Hunc  versum  omittit  W.  Beddit  P.  »  Et  quum 
nirsum  P.  R.  «  Hunc  vcwum  omittunt  P.  R.  «  Si  W.  «  Sic  P.  W. ; 
Hunc  Tenum  omittit  R. 

o  2 


196  MANUSCRIPTS  OP  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

XIII.   Of  tempering  iron  [Aard  for  cutting  stonesJ^ 

[You  must  thus  make  iron  hard  for  sculpturing  gems.] 
Whoever  wishes  to  cut  stones  with  the  solid  iron,  must  obserre 
the  following  rules  to  temper  its  edge.  At  the  time  when  the 
goat  is  in  heat  his  fat  alone  is  fit  for  this  purpose.  For  if  aoy 
one  quenches  the  hot  iron  in  its  fistt,  it  immediately  becomes 
hard  with  a  firm  edge. 

1  See  Theoph.  p.  404.     Wecker,  428. 


XIV.  Of  the  gems  which  you  wish  to  make  from  Bwum 

Glass. 

You  will  thus  be  able  to  make  beautiful  shining  gems  of 
every  sort  with  Roman  glass.  Hollow  out  some  day  for  your- 
self as  a  mould  for  the  stone ;  and  put  into  it  some  glass  broken 
into  small  pieces.  You  may  easily  prepare  this  [the  mould] 
by  this  artifice.  Let  a  certain  reed  be  skilfully  turned  round 
and  round,  and  when  it  [the  clay]  begins  to  harden,  and  the 
rod  sticks  tight,  then  fix  it  on  the  rod  on  both  sides,  and  let  the 
rod  be  held  by  the  glass  placed  round  it ;  and  then  put  the 
clay,  guarded  by  a  hollow  iron,  into  the  fire,  and  when  the  glass 
is  thoroughly  Hquefied,  press  it  into  the  hollow  with  a  bri^t 
iron,  so  that  you  may  have  no  bubble  or  flaw  in  it 


ERACUUS  DE  C0L0RIBU8  ET  ARTIBUS  ROMANORITM.    197 

xiir.  De  temperamento  duroferri  ad  inddendum  lapides} 

Qui  quserit  solido  ^  lapides  irrumpere  ferro, 
Ho8  habeat  ritus,  ut  acumen  temperet  ejus. 
Tempore  quo  solito  magis  uritur'  hircus  amore. 
Solus  adeps  hujus  fit  ad  istoe  aptior  usus. 
Hujus  euim  ealidum  *  si  quis  pinguedine  ferrum 
Extinguit,^  subito  durescit  acumine  firmo. 

*  Sic  P. ;  JDe  temperamento  ferri  R. ;  (xemmarum  iculptura  W.,  qui  hunc 
venom  alteris  pr»mittit — Sic  gemmis  durum  sculpendis  office  ferrum,  '  Qui 
qvaretsoUdo^.^  quisquU  vult  aoHto  W.  '  Uritur  magis  P.  *  Candens  W. 
^  Restinguet  R. ;  refrigeret  P. 


XIV.  De  Gemmis  quas  de  Romano  vitro  facere  qtu^ris. 

Sic  ex  Romano  poteris  conficere  vitro 
Splendentes  pulcros  generis  cujusque  lapillos 
Ad  modulum  lapidis  cretam  tibi  quippe  cavabis ; 
Hie  pones  vitrum  per  quaedam  frusta  minutum. 
Hunc  ergo  facile  poteris  hac  arte  parare. 
Subtiliter  *  qusdam  circumvolvatur  arundo. 
Qui  dum  durescit,  dum  Yirga  firmius  *  haeret, 
Tunc  ipsi  virgse  superimponetur  utrinque,' 
£t  circumposito  teneatur  virgula  vitro ; 
Atque  cavo  tectam  ferro  post^  insere  cretam 
Igni ;  fit  ^  vitrum ;  cum  fit  ^  penitus  liquefactum, 
In  fossam  lato  fulgenti ''  comprime  ferro ; 
Quo  vesica  sibi,  quo  lesio  nulla  supersit. 

■SuM&P.    ^DuriusT,    *  Utrumquef,    *  Ferro  past  T,     PeniiusU 
*  Fit,     Sic  emendavi ;  codices  sit  habent.    «  Fit.    Sic  R.    Sit  P.     ^  F^' 
genti?. 


(     198    ) 


HERE  BEGINS 

THE  SECOND  AND  METRICAL  BOOK, 


ANb   FIRST 


XV.  Of  a  colour  resembling  orpiment} 

You  will  easily  be  able  to  make  a  colour  resembling  orpi- 
ment thus ;  preserve  it  carefully  in  your  memory.  The  gall  of 
a  large  fish  is  very  useful  for  this  art  The  liquor  of  the  gall 
must  be  received  in  a  marble  stone,  and  you  must  mix  a  little 
vinegar  with  it,  and  then  add  some  white  clay  to  the  fatness  of 
the  gall,  and  this  mixture  will  make  the  colour  brilliant. 

I  A  recipe  similar  to  this  is  conttdned  in  the  small  Paris  MS.,  No.  vi. 
MDCczLix.  B.,  where  it  is  called  "  Colore  aureo  Lombardico.** 


XVI.    Of  copper  gilt  with  the  fatness  of  gall} 

If  you  wish  to  prepare  copper  with  the  fatness  of  gall,  so  as 
to  appear  gilt,  you  may  do  it  in  this  way.  Having  scraped  it 
with  a  knife,  burnish  it  by  rubbing  it  with  a  bear*s  tooth,  and 
then  sprinkle  it  with  a  pencil  [dipped  in]  the  liquor  of  the  gall, 
and  lay  it  evenly  all  over ;  afterwards  give  it  another  smooth 
coat,  and  upon  this  a  third ;  and  each  time  pass  the  quill  evenly 
all  over  it,  lest  any  scratch,  or  lump,  or  bubble  should  make  the 
copper  rough. 

■  Sec  Thcoph.,  £.  £d.^  p.  406.     S.  Aademar,  No.  204. 


(     199    ) 


INCIPIT 


LIBER   SECUNDUS   [METRICUS, 

ET   PBIMO]  ^ 

XV.  De  colore  auripigmento  simili. 

Sic  facile  similem  poteris  Bcrvare  colorem 
Auripigmento ;  piemori  tu  mente  teneto. 
Hinc  piacis  magni  fel  multum  congruit  arti, 
Marmorea  cujus  petra  liquor  excipiatur, 
Cui  vetus  et  paucum  tamen '  admiscebis  acetum, 
Fellis  et  hinc  albam  turn »  cum  pinguedine  cretam. 
Reddet  splendentem  commixtio  tanta  colorem/ 

» In  [  ]  omittit  R.     «  2\<m  R.    ^  Ter  ?.     *  Liquorem  R. 


XVI.  De  cupro  feUis  piYhguedine  deaurato. 

Si  velut  auratum  fellis  pinguedine  cuprum 
Condere  curabis,  sic  hoc  implere  yalebis. 
Cultello  rasum  splendens  hoc  effice  tactum. 
Ursi  dente ;  quidem  calamo  post  \  sperge  liquorem 
Fellis ;  et  hoc  eque  tamen '  apponatur  ubique. 
Appones  alium  post'  equo  tramite.     Rursum 
Huic  alium  junges ;  vice  tamen  undique  duces 
Equali  calamum,  ne  qua  divisio  cuprum 
Ne  quis  monticulus  vel  ne  tumor  efferat  *  uUus. 

'  Past  P. ;  peniius  R.    •  Teamen  P.    »  Peniius  R.    *  Offerat  P. 


200  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE, 

xvn.  How  to  make  a  green  colour  for  painting  what 

you  please} 

Thus,  O  painter !  you  may  obtain  for  yourself  a  green  colour! 
Grind  white  earth  with  the  leaves  of  the  black  nightshade.* 
Grind  them  both  evenly  together  on  a  marble  slab  until  they 
become  liquid  for  the  use  of  the  pen,  and  afterwards  take  this 
juice  and  try  it  with  your  paintbrush.  Then  adorn  any  writ- 
ings you  please  with  the  colour;  but  take  care  previously  not 
to  add  too  much  earth. 

1  See  Theoph.,  E.  Ed.,  p.  3d4. 

s  This  chapter  must  have  been  written  by  a  person  who  habitnally  spoke 
Italian  or  French,  because  the  Solanum  Nignim  is  not  known  by  the  naine 
of  **  Morelia,"  or  **  Morelle,"  except  in  the  countries  where  the  Italian 
and  French  languages  are  spoken.  The  expression  in  the  MS.  of  Theo- 
philus  runs  thus:  **  herba  quae  vulgi!)  morella  nuncupatur.*'  The  term 
*'  morelle  "  occurs  more  than  once  in  the  MS.  of  Le  Begue,  and  also  in  the 
Bolognese  MS.  It  must  not  be  confounded  with  **  Maurelle,'*  the  name 
by  which  the  Croton  Tinctorium  is  known  at  Montpelier. 


xvm.  Holo  green  glass  is  to  be  made  for  painting  earthen 


txises} 


By  these  things  the  effect  of  precious  glass  is  shown.  Take 
sulphur  burnt  in  the  fire,  and  [burnt]  copper,  and  grind  shining 
glass  with  the  powder  of  these,  and  take  care  to  make  it  liquid 
for  yourself  with  gum  only,  and  then  place  the  jar,  painted 
over  with  this,  into  the  fire,  for  the  painting  will  assume  a 
green  colour,  when  the  outside  of  the  jar  begins  to  turn  red. 
1  See  Theoph.,  E.  Ed.,  p.  398.     Wecker,  p.  644. 


XIX.  Of  white  glass  for  painting  earthen  vessels} 

You  must  thus  make  white  glass  fine  enough  for  painting. 
Grind  white  glass  mixed  with  sulphur.     With  these,  ground 

1  See  Theoph.,  £.  Ed.,  p.  400.  Wecker,  p.  644.  This  probably  describes 
an  opaque  white  glass,  resembling  those  throuls  of  white  glass  which  Theo« 


ERACLIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  ET  ARTIBUS  ROBiANORUM.   201 

XVII.  De  viridi  colore  qaomodo  fieri  possit  ad  quce 

volueris  depingere. 

Sic  poteris  viridem  tibi  pictor  habere  colorem. 

Cum  foliis  albam  morellse  ^  contere  cretam ; 

Haec  in  marmorea  pariter  quoque  contere  petra, 

Usus  ad  pennae  liquidum  dum  fiat  utrumque/ 

Et  post'  hunc  succum  pincello  sume  probandum. 

Hinc  quascunque  cupis  scripturas  conde  colori/ 

Ne  cretae  nimium  ponas  tamcn  ante  caveto. 

'  Mordkan  male  habet  R.   '  Utrinque  R.   *  Penitua  R.   *  Sic  emendavi. 
CohribusF.K 


xvni.  De  vitro  viridi  qtwmodo  fieri  debeat,  ad  vasa 

fi/^lia^  depingenda. 

His  rebus  vitri  patet  effectus  preciosi : 
Igni  combustum  sulphur^  quaerasque  cupellum,' 
Atque  teras  horum  splendens  cum  pulvere  vitrum ; 
Hoc  cures  solo  liquidum  tibi  *  reddere  gummo. 
Attamen  inde  litam  post  ^  ignibus  injice  testam,^ 
Assumet  viridem  quoniam*  pictura  colorem, 
Exterior  testae  cum  cceperit  ipsa  rubereJ 

'  FigvH  P.    '  Quaraaque  cupreasum  P.,  aaawn  quart  cvprum  W.    "  Ter 
W.    *  PeniJtuB  R.    »  Cwiam  P.  R    •  QuaUm  R.    '  Rvbwe  P. 


XIX.  De  vitro  albo,  ad  vasafictilia}  depingenda. 

Album  picturis  vitrum  sic'  attenuabis' 
Candens  permixtum  cum  sulphure  contere  vitrum 

'  VaaaJIguU  P.,  Fictaia  vasa  W.    '  Sic  vUrum  R.    '  Attenuabit  R. 

philus  (lib.  ii.  cap.  14)  says  were  sometimes  made  to  surround  long-necked 
bottles.  Le  VieU  (p.  27)  says  that  white  opaque  glass  was  used  for  the 
windows  in  the  churches  belonging  to  the  monasteries  of  the  Bemardines 
and  Cbtercians. 


202  MAmJSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BBGUE. 

together  until  they  are  like  dust,  you  must  paint  a  thick  jar 
all  over  the  outside.  Then  put  it  in  to  be  baked  by  the  flame 
of  the  furnace ;  and  when  it  is  red-hot,  and  the  painting  adheres 
to  it,  take  it  out ;  so  also  you  may  paint  vases  in  the  manner 
described  in  the  first  book. 


XX.  Of  black  glass  for  painting  earthen  vases.^ 

In  the  same  manner  also  you  may  make  black  glass  useful 
for  painting.  Grind  the  azure  that  is  found  in  the  earth  with 
gum ;  and  then  breaking  clear  glass  upon  a  marble  slab,  mix 
it  up  with  it^  and  grind  them  again.  This  mixture  will  assume 
a  blue  colour,  which,  however,  the  force  of  the  fire  will  turn  to 
a  beautiful  black. 

1  See  Wecker,  p.  646. 


XXI.  Of  glass  which  is  very  green} 

So  also  you  may  make  glass  of  a  very  deq)  green.  Take 
very  small  fragments  of  burnt  copper,  whidi  you  must  after- 
wards mix  with  the  rust  of  the  same.  Then  grind  it  again, 
with  an  admixture  of  shining  glass.  Afterwards,  put  the  jar, 
painted  with  this,  into  the  furnace ;  and  when  the  flame  makes 
it  white  hot,  take  it  out.  It  will  not  be  of  a  beautiful  ap- 
pearance until  it  is  cold ;  for  while  the  glass  is  made  intensely 
hot,  the  violence  of  the  flame  takes  away  the  real  beauty  of  the 
colour. 

1  See  Wccker,  p.  645.    Thcopb.,  £.  £d.,  p.  400. 


ERACLITJS  DE  COLORIBUS  ET  ARTIBTJS  ROMANORUM.  203 

His  simul  attritis,  postquam^  fuerint  quasi  pulvis 
Exterius  spissam  depinges^  undique  testam. 
iDJice  post  ipsam  fornacis  ab  igne  coquendam. 
Cum^  simul  ipsa  rubet,  sibi  cum  pictura  coheret, 
Extrahe.     Sic  etiam^  pinges  hine  vascula  quaedam, 
Ars  velut  in  primo  notat  insinuata  libello 

»  Pemtusque  R.    ■  Depurges  P.    *  Qvam  P.  R.     *  Ea  W. 


XX.  De  vitro  nigro  ad  vasa  jictilia}  depingenda. 

Sic  etiam  nigrum  pingendi  transfer  in  usum. 
Qui  terra  capitur  cum  gummo'  contere  lazur ; 
Et  sic'  perspicuum  firangens  in  marmore  yitrum^ 
Ipsi  miscebis,  rursumque  tetendo  parabis. 
Haec  quoque  cseruleam  sumet^  commixtio  formam 
Quam'^  tamen  in  nigrum  vertet  vis  ignia^  vitrum. 

>  Vasajiffuli  P.,  ea  vam  W.  «  Gummi  R.  ^  UtsitVf.  *  SunuU  W. 
^  Qios  W.  *  Sic  eroendayi ;  vertetur  maigma  P.  R.,  coiwertet  sm- 
ffuhW, 


XXI.  De  vitro  quod  nimium  viret} 

Sic  etiam  nimium  tu  virens  effice  vitrum. 
Accipies  assi  subtilia  fragmina  cupri, 
Quae  tamen  ejusdem  post^  cum  rubigine  mittes ; 
Rursus  et  admixto  splendenti  contere  vitro, 
Protinus  hinc^  pictam  fomacibus  injice  testam/ 
Poetquam  lucentem  dabit  ipsi  flamma  colorem, 
Accipe.     Non^  pulcram  capiet  nisi'  frigida  formam, 
Nam  dum  fit  vitrum  nimis  fervere,  coloris'' 
Huic  auffert  propriam  ^  flammae  violentia  formam. 

»  Sic  P.  R.  De  vUro  vaide  virente  W.  •  Penitus  R.  •  «c  R.  *  Flam^ 
mam  R.  *  Nam  R.  W.  •  Hinc  W.  7  Nindo  fervere  vapom  W.  »  /Vo. 
pria  R. 


(    204    ) 


HEBE  BEGINS 

THE  THIRD  MD  PROSAIC  BOOK  OF  THE 
AFORESAID  ERACLIUS, 

ON  THE  AFORESAID  COLOURS  KSD  ARTS, 

AHD   FIB8T 

I.  [232]^  On  paintinff  earthen  vcLses  with  green  glass} — ^Take 
green  glass  and  burnt  thunderbolts,*  and  also  burnt  copper,  in 
powder,  and  mix  them  with  clear  glass,  previously  ground  on  a 
smooth  stone.  And  if  you  wish  to  paint  a  vase  with  it,  temper  it 
with  the  aforesaid  gum  water,  and  lay  it  on  the  vase  with  a  paint- 
brush, and  put  it  into  the  furnace  until  it  appears  thoroughly 
red  hot.     When  cool  it  will  be  of  the  colour  of  green  glass. 

n.  [233]  To  whiten  earthen  vases  with  white  glass.* — K  you 
wish  to  make  white  glass  for  the  purpose  of  painting,  grind  hot 
sulphur  cav*efully  with  white  glass,  and  lay  it  on  a  thick  piece 
of  earthenware,  and  put  it  into  the  furnace.  And  when  it  has 
run  together,  take  it  out  of  the  fire ;  and  if  you  wish  to  punt 
saucers  and  phials,  made  of  earthenware,  with  it,  grind  it  up 
as  if  for  writing,  and  do  as  before  directed  for  the  green  glass. 

m.  [259]  Haw  earthenware  vessels  are  glazed. — ^Take  the 
strongest  potter's  clay  you  can  procure,  and  put  it  into  the  fur- 
nace with  the  other  vases,  or  in  any  other  fire,  and  bake  it  until 
it  is  quite  red  hot.     When  it  is  cool,  put  it  into  any  vase,  and 


1  The  figures  in  [  ]  refer  to  the  numbers  in  the  Le  Begue  MS.  at 

'  See  lib.  ii.  No.  xviii. 

s  The  nodules  of  iron  pyrites  found  about  the  chalk-rocks  at  Brigfatou 
and  other  parts  of  the  coast  of  Sussex,  are  still  called  by  the  lower  orders 
« thunderbolts."  The  same  term  is  also  applied  to  the  fossils  called  **  Be» 
lemnitae  ;'*  but  I  consider  that,  in  the  present  case,  it  can  apply  only  to  one 
of  the  minerals  called  ''  pyrites.", 

*  See  lib.  ii.  No.  six. 


(     205     ) 


INCIPIT 

TERCmS  LIBER  ET  PROSAICUS  EMCLII, 

ANTEDICTI, 

DE  C0L0RIBU8  ET  ABTIBUS  PREDICTIS, 

ET  PBIMO^ 

I.  [232]  De  vctsis  testeis  depingendU  ex  viridi  mtro* — Viridia 
vitri  et  usd  fulminiB  pulvereniy  item  usti  cupri,  aocipe,  et  misce 
cum  claro  vitro '  prins  bene  ^  super  marmoream  petram  planam  ^ 
trito.  Si  ex  eo  testam  omare  volueris,'  cum  gummi  liquore 
supradicto  temperes,  et  cum^  pincello  testam  ex  his  ^  intinges, 
et  in  fomacem  pones  ut  bene  rubeat^  Refirigerata  yitri  yiridis 
representabit  ^^  colorem. 

n.  [233]  Ad  vasa  testea  dlbo  vitro  dealbanda}"^ — Album 
▼itrum  si  facere  vis  ad  usum  pingendi,^  calidum  sulphur  cum 
vitro  albo  diligenter  tere,  et  super  spissam  testam  pone,  et  in 
fomacem  mitte.  Cum  autem  glutinatum  fiierit,  extrahe  ab 
igne,  et  si  ex  eo  scutellas^'  arte  iiguli  factas  vis  dipingere,  illud 
oontere^^  ad  usum  scripturse,  et  fac  quemadmodum^'  ante  dic- 
tum est  de  viridi  vitro. 

in.  [259]  Qaomodo  vasa  Jiffuli^^  plumbeantur.  —  Aceipe 
terram  figulorum  quantum^''  fortem  poteris  invenire,  et  in  fumo 
cum  aliis  vasis  mitte,^^  ubi  tantum  lento  igne  coques,  vel  in  alio 
igne,  quousque  tota  sit  rubea.   Quando^^  frigida  flierit,  mitte  eam 


^  Ex  P.  s  £z  P.  De  vasis  testeis  pingendis  R.  '  Own  daro  misce  R. 
^  Bene  omittit  P.  *  Planam  omittit  R.  *  Temperes  hie  inserit  P.,  et  post 
omittit.  f  Cum  omittit  R.  "  Hie  R.  *  Ut  tantum  rubea  appareat  R. 
'*  Jiesplendalnt.  Cant.  "  £z  P.  Item  ut  supra  R.  »  Tere  hie  iiuerit  P.,  et 
post  omittit.  "  Etfaias  inserit  P.  ^«  Ckmtere  mum  P.  *»  Scrtpturoi  quaUter 
R.    "  Fignul  R.     »'  Quantmms  R.    »  MiUe  omittit  R.    "  Et  quando  P. 


206  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

grind  it  until  it  is  reduced  to  powder.  Then  take  water  and 
mix  with  it,  and  pour  off  the  water  into  another  vase,  and  let 
it  remain  so  until  the  next  day,  and  then  throw  away  that 
water.  Then  take  [some  of]  the  clay  that  is  left  behind,  and 
mix  it  with  other  clay  without  sand,  and  with  two  parts  of  the 
aforesaid  very  strong  clay.  Then  pound  it  with  a  mallet,  and 
make  whatever  kind  of  vase  you  .like  with  it.  Afterwards, 
take  [some  more  of]  that  clay  which  you  allowed  to  settle,  and 
mix  oil  with  it,  and  spread  it  all  over  the  vase  which  you  have 
made,  before  it  is  baked.  Then  put  it  away  in  a  secret  place 
until  it  is  quite  dry,  and  do  not  let  the  draught  get  to  it  If 
you  wish  to  glaze  the  vessel,  take  wheat  flour,  and  boil  it  in  a 
jar,  anfd  let  it  oool,.wd  wash^  over^tbe  vessel  with  thi&  water. 
Tlien  take  }ead  weUidiss^Ived.  l^at  ifyw  (Wish  to  make  the 
vase  green,  take  copper  or  braes,  whipb.  is  better,  and  melt  it 
with  lead. in: the  Ic^owiiig  manner.  Take  lead  and  melt  it 
welllna  vase.  Whw  it.  is  qM^te.  liquid,  shake  it  round  the 
vase  with, y our. faajods  until  it  .isrred]Qced  to  powder,  and  llien 
mix  six  parts  of  brass  filings  with  it,  and  while  the  vase  is  wet 
witti  the  flour  paste,  you  must  immediately  dost  the  lead  over 
it  [that  is,  dust  it  over  with  the  aforesaid -filixigs].  But  if  you 
wish  it  to  be  yellow,  dust  it  over  wiih  the  powder  of  lead  alone, 
without  the  filings.  Then  place  this  if ase  in  another  larger 
vase,  and  put  it  into  the  furnace,  that  it  may  be  more  brilliant 
and  beautiful,  but  with  a-  slow  fire,  so  as  to  be  ndther  too 
strong  nor  too  weak. 

IV.  [234]  AUotoJinisheaHheniworevesseU  with  green  glass} 
— ^Grind  rust  of  copper  and  copper  filings  with  dear  glass,  and 
afterwards  paint  a  jar  with  them  as  befcnre,  and  put  it  into  a 
very  hot  ftimaoe.  Then  take  it  out  of  the  furnace,  and  you 
will  have  a  precious  colour. 

^  See  lib.  ii.  No.  xxi. 


ERACLIUS  DE  COLOWBUS  ET  ARTIBUS  ROMANORUM.  207 

in  quodam  vase,  et  tamdiu  tere,  quousque  tola  git  quasi  pulvis. 
Deinde  aocipe  aquam,  et  miscecum  ea,  et  in  alio  vase  cola,  et 
usque  ad  alium  diem  sic  earn  dimittes.  Poetea  illam  aquam 
projides  foras.  Deinde  aedpe  illas  feces,  et  cum  alia  terra 
quae  mste  sabulo  est  misces,  cum  duabus  partibus  illius  fortis- 
dmse  teme  supradicte.  Postea  tere  earn  cum  malleo.  Deinde 
qualecunque  vas  volueris  facies.  Postea  accipe  illam  fecem 
quam  sivi^ti  quiescere,  et  cum  oleo  misoes,  et  illud  vas  quod 
fecisti,  antequam  coquatnr,  per  totum  Unies.  Deinde  pones 
eum  In  s^ecreto  loco  quoadusque  totum  siecetur,  et  ne  rentus  ei 
contrarius  sit.  Si  yero  eum  plumbeum  facere  Yolueris,  acci- 
pias^  fieurinam  de  frumento,  et  in  olkiii  bullire  earn  faoies,  et 
refrigerari  permittes,  et  de  ipsa  aqua  earn  per  totum  in  cir^ 
cuitu  linies.  Postea  accipe  plumbum' bene  flolutum.  Si  tamen 
tiride  eum  volueris '  facere,  accipe  cupram,  vel  auricalcum, 
quod  melius  est,  et  cum  plumbo  misoe  sic  Accipe  plumbum, 
et  in  vase  eum  optime  funde.  Quando  totum  liquefactum 
fuerit,  circumvolve  manibus  tuis  illud  in  vas  usque  dum  pulvis 
fiat  et  ita'  VI  partes  limaturae  auricalci^  cum  eo  misces. 
Cum  vas  illud  de  aqua  farina  bumefactum  fderit,  statim  pul- 
verabis  de  plumbo  [id'  est,  suprascripta  limatura  pulverabis]. 
Si  vero  vis  ut  croceus  sit,  de  puro  plumbo,*  et  sine '  limatuva, 
pulverabis.  Deinde  in  majori  vase  intus  vas  illud  repone,  et 
in  fnrno  mitte  ut  sit  plus  splendidum  et  pulcrum,  lento  tamen 
igni,  ut  non  nimis  fortiter  nee  nimis  flebiHter.' 

IV.  [234]  Iteniy  [ad^  testea  wisa,  id  est^  Jtguliy  viridi  vitro 
perfieienda.'] — Rubiginem  cupri  et  pulverem  ejusdem,^®  cum 
vitro  claro  tere,  et  postea  ex  hoc  ^^  testam  ut  supra  pinge,  et  in 
fornacem  ralde  succensam  mitte.  Deinde  a  fornace  extrahe,^' 
et  preciosum  habebis  colorem.*^ 


*  Acc^pie9  P.  *  Virideum  volueris  ewn  P.  '  /to,  sic  P. ;  R.  lacunam 
habct.  *  Awicalci  Umature  P.  *  Ex  P.  •  Deinde  pones  plumbo.  Cant. 
"f  Siiprascripta,  Cant.  "  iVimiM  fortiter  nee  minus  Jlebis  R.  •  Ex  P. 
*«  Rubiginem  vUri  R.  "  Ex  hoc  omittit  R.  "  Abstrahe  R.  »»  Predonmi 
cohrem  habeas  mridem  P. 


208  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGITE. 

V.  [255]  How  and  when  glass  was  invented. — Glass  is  so 
called,  as  Isidorus  says,  because  it  has  the  property  of  being 
transparent  to  the  sight ;  for  with  regard  to  other  metals,  what- 
ever is  inclosed  in  them  is  concealed.  But  with  regard  to  glass, 
whatever  liquid  or  substance  is  contained  in  it,  appears  inside  just 
as  it  appears  outside,  and  is  visible,  however  it  may  be  inclosed. 
Its  ori^  was  as  follows  :  In  the  part  of  Syria  which  is  called 
PhoDnicia,  and  which  borders  on  Judea,  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Carmel,  there  is  a  swamp,  in  which  the  river  Belus  rises,  whidi 
after  a  course  of  5  miles  flows  into  the  sea  just  by  Tbolomais 
[Ptolemais],  the  sa^ds  of  which  are  washed  by  the  water  flow- 
ing over  them.  At  this  place,  as  it  is  reported,  a  vessel  of 
nitre-merchants  was  wrecked,  and  when  they  were  preparing 
their  food  here  and  there  upon  the  sands,  having  no  stones  to 
support  their  [cooking]  vessels,  they  placed  lumps  of  nitre 
[natron]  under  them ;  which  being  ignited,  and  mixed  with  the 
sand  of  the  shore,  streams  of  a  new  and  transparent  liquor 
began  to  flow,  and  this  is  asserted  to  have  been  the  ori^  of 
glass. 

Then  as  the  ingenious  skill  of  men  was  not  contented  with 
the  glass  alone,  endeavours  were  made  to  extend  and  improve 
this  art,  with  other  mixtures ;  for  it  is  heated  with  light  and 
dry  wood,  together  with  copper  and  nitre,  and  is  melted  in 
constant  furnaces  like  brass,  and  is  made  into  lumps.  After- 
wards these  lumps  are  again  melted  in  the  workshops,  and  some 
is  formed  into  shape  by  blowing,  some  is  ground  on  a  lathe,  and 
some  is  sculptured  like  silver.  It  is  also  tinged  in  many  ways 
so  as  to  imitate  hyacinths  and  green  sapph]l*es  and  onyx  stones, 
and  other  colours  of  gems.  And  there  is  no  material  fitter  for 
mirrors,  or  for  pictures  especially,  than  the  white  glass,  and 
particularly  that  which  is  made  like  crystal ;  so  that  for  drink- 
ing cups  it  has  driven  gold  and  silver  quite  out  of  use.  Glass 
was  formerly  made  in  Italy,  and  throughout  Gaul,  and  in 
Spain.  Very  soft  white  sand  was  triturated  with  a  pestle 
and  mill.  It  was  then  mixed  with  three  parts  of  nitre,  by 
weight  or  measure,  and  when  melted  was  transferred  to  other 


BRACLIUS  DE  COLORIBIIS  ET  ARTIBUS  ROMANORUM.  209 

V-  [255]  Quomodo  et  quando  inventum  fuerit  vitrum. — ^Vi- 
trum  dictum/  ut  ait  Ysidorus,'  quod  visui  perspecuitate  trans* 
luceat  In  aliis  enim  metallis  quicquid  intrinsecus  continetur  ab- 
flconditur.  In  vitro  vero,*  quilibet  liquor  vel  species*  interius, 
talis'  exterius  declaratur,  et  quodam  modo  clausus*  patetJ 
Cajus  origo  fasec  fuit.  In  parte  Syriae  quae  Fenicis  vocatur, 
finitima  Judeae,  circa  radioem  mentis  Carmeli,  palus  est,  ex 
qua  nasdtur  Belus  amnis,*  V  millium  passuum  spatio  in  mare 
fluens,  juxta  Tholomaida,  cujus  arenae,  decurrente'  fluctu, 
sordibus  eluuntur.  Hie  ^®  fama  est,  quod,  expulsa  "  nave  njer- 
catorum  nitri,^  cum  sparsim  ^^  per  litus  epulas  pararent  nee 
easent  lapides  ^*  pro  attollendis  vasis,  lapides,  glebas  nitri  vasi 
subdiderunt^  Quibus  aocensis,  permixta  arena  littoris,  trans- 
luoentis  novi  liquoris,  vitri  scilicet,^*  fluxisse  rivos,^''  et  banc 
fiiisae  originem  vitri. 

Mox,  ut  ^  ingeniosa  hominum  ^'  solertia  non  fuit  contenta 
solo  vitro,  sed  et  aliis  mixturis  banc  artem  studuit^  [in  melius 
ampliare,  levibus  enim  et]  aridis  lignis  concoquitur,  adjecto 
Cipro  ac  nitro,'^  continuisque  fomacibus,  ut  aes,  liquatur,  mas- 
saeque  fiunt.  Postea  ex  massis  rursus  fimditur  in  officinis,  et 
aJiud  flatu  figuratur,  aliud  tomo  teritur,  aliud  argenti  modo 
celatur.  Ungitur  etiam  multis  modis  ita  ut  jacinctos  sapbi- 
rosque  virides  imitetur,"*  et  onicbinos,  et  aliarum  gemmarum 
colores.  Neque  est  alia  speculis  aptior  materia,  vel  picturse 
accommodatior.  Maximus  tamen  in  candido  vitro,  proximaque 
in  cristalli  similitudine,  unde  et  ad  potandum  argenti  et  auri 
metalla "  repulit.     Vitrum  olim  **  fiebat  **  in  Italia,  et  per 

>  Demde  P.  '  Propnetatem  habei  supplet  P.  *  Vero  omittit  R.  *  Qua^ 
abet  nipplet  R.  *  TalUer  R.  *  CUxrius  R.  ^  Inter  hiec  duo  verba  lacu* 
nam  habet  R.  •  Bdus  rnma  R.  *  Decrescenie  R.  ^^  Hax  P.  "  Quod 
expuiaa  P. ;  pulsa  R.  "  Mercatorum  nitri  omittit  P.,  et  loco  ejus  ibidem 
flopplet.  "  SparsiuB  R.  '^  Lapides  omittit  R.  *'  Ex  R. ;  cum  ad  ignem 
m  naoi  apponi  deberent  pro  ferculis  decoquendis^  glebas  igitur  nitri,  loco 
iapidum  utendas,  navi  subdiderunt;  P.  ^'  Vitri  scilicet  omittit  R.  *'  As- 
seritur  supplet  P.  »  JBst  supplet  R.  >'  Hominum  omittit  R.  ^  Ex  P. ; 
nam  R.  ^  Et  vitro  supplet  P.  **  Immittetur  P.  "  Argenti  metalla  et 
igstriU.    **EnimF.    »^/ supplet  R. 

VOL.  I,  P 


210  MANTTSCBIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEOUE. 

fdrnaces.  This  mags  was  called  '^  Admovitrius,''  and  from 
this,  when  re-melted,  pure  and  white  glass  was  made.  Among 
the  kinds  of  glass,  the  stone  ohsidian^  is  also  enumerated. 
This  is  black  and  occasionally  greenish,  and  sometimes  trans- 
lucent,  and  of  a  coarser  appearance,  and  when  used  for  mirrors, 
shows  a  shadow  instead  of  an  image.  Many  persons  make 
gems  of  it  It  is  said  that  this  stone  is  produced  both  in  India 
and  Italy,  and  in  Spain  near  the  ocean. 

VI.  [256]  How  that  a  person  was  befieaded  by  order  of  the  Em- 
peror because  he  had  discovered  the  art  of  makinffjkxible  glass} 
— ^It  is  related  that  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius  Caesar  a  certain 
artist  had  discovered  a  way  of  making  glass  flexible  and  ductile. 
When  he  was  admitted  into  Caesar's  presence,  he  handed  a 
phial  to  him,  which  Caesar  indignantly  threw  on  the  ground, 
and  it  bent  like  a  brazen  vessel.  The  artist  took  up  the  phial 
from  tha  pavement,  and  then  taking  a  hammer  out  of  his  bosom 
he  repaired  the  phial.  Upon  this  Caesar  asked  the  artist 
whether  any  other  person  was  acquainted  with  that  method  of 
making  glass.  When  he  affirmed  with  an  oath  that  no  other 
person  knew  tlie  secret,  Caesar  ordered  him  to  be  beheaded, 
lest,  when  this  was  known,  gold  and  silver  should  be  held  dirt 
cheap,  and  the  prices  of  all  tlie  metals  be  reduced.  And, 
indeed,  if  glass  vessels  did  not  break,  they  would  be  better 
than  gold  or  silver. 


1  Mr.  Phillips  observes  that  obsidian  occasionally  bears  a  great  resem- 
blance to  common  glass.  The  origin  of  this  substance  has  been  warmlj 
contested :  it  is  common  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tcrfcanoes,  and  h«B 
been  considered  as  vitrified  lava,  whence  it  has  obtained  the  lamiliar 
name  of  vokaidc  glass.  It  is  found  on  Hecla,  and  in  almost  every  part  of 
Iceland,  in  the  Lipari  Islands,  in  one  of  which  it  constitutes  the  greater 
part  of  the  mountain  "  della  Castagna";  near  the  Peak  of  Tenerifie ;  in 
Peru,  Mexico,  and  New  Spain.  In  Europe,  obsidian  is  made  into  reflecton 
for  telescopes ;  in  Mexico  and  Peru,  it  was  made  into  looking-glasses  and 
knives.     Phill.  Min.  p.  135,  136. 

s  It  is  merely  necessary  to  observe  with  respect  to  this  tale,  which  is 
repeated  by  every  writer  on  the  subject,  that  it  is  universally  disbelieYed« 

The 


ERACLnJS  DB  COLORIBUS  £T  AHTIBUS  ROMANORUM.  211 

Galliafl,  et  in  Hispania.  Arena  alba  mollissima  pila  molaque 
terebatur.  Dehinc  miscebatur  tribus  partibus  nitri  pondere 
vel  meDSura,  ac,  liquata,  in  alias  fornaoes  transfiindebatur  qiue 
Massa  vocabatur  Admoyitrius/  atque  hsec  recoctafiebat  vitrum 
purum  et  candidum.  In  genere  vitri  et  obsianus  lapis  ad* 
niuneratur.  Est  autem  virens  interdum,  et  niger,  aliquando 
et  translucidus  crassiore  visu,  et,  in  speculis  parietum,  pro 
imagine  umbras  reddente."  Gemmas  multi  ex  eo  faciunt 
Hunc  ]apidem  et  in  India,  et  in  Italia,  et  ad  Ooeanum  in 
Hispania  nasci  tradunt. 

Vf.  [256]  Quod  quidam  decapitattu  fuit  jussu  ImpercUaris, 
quia  modum  faciendi  viti-umflexibih  invenerat,* — Fertur  autem 
sub  Hberio  Cesare  quendam  artificem  excogitasse  vitri  tempera- 
mentum  ut  flexibile  esset  et  ductile.  Qui,  dum  admissus  esset 
ad  Cesarem,  porrexit  ^  fialam  Cesari,  quam  ille  indignatus  in 
payimento  projecit,  quae  complicaverat  se  tanquam  vas  aeneum. 
Artifex  autem  sustulit  fialam  de  payimento,  deinde  martulum 
de  sinu  protulit,  et  fialam  correxit.  Hoc  facto,  Cesar  dixit 
artifici,  numquid  alius  scit  banc  condituram  vitrorum?  Post- 
quam  ille  jurans  negayit  alium  ^  hoc  scire,  jussit  ilium  Cesar 
decollari,  ne,  dum  hoc  cognitum  fieret,  aurum  et  argentum  * 
pro  Into  haberentur,  et  omnium  metallorum  preda  abstrahe* 
rentnr.  Et  reyera  quod  si  yasa  yitrea  non  frangerentur,  meliora 
assent  quam  aurum  et  argentum. 


^Admamtem?.    *  ReddereV.    'Sic  P.     Be  art^eU.    ^ProrrexitF. 
*  Atemm  R.    *  Ei  argenhan  omittit  R. 


The  problem,  however,  of  making  malleable  glass  was  always  a 
favourite  subject  with  the  alchemists,  and  Raymond  LuUy  expressly  de- 
clares, that  **  one  of  the  principal  effects  of  the  philosopher's  stone  was  to 
render  glass  malleable.'*  The  Hon.  Robert  Boyle  mentions  (Philosophical 
Works,  vol.  i.  p.  58),  on  the  authority  of  an  expert  chemist,  a  piece  of 
transparent  red  glass  which,  after  receiving  several  strokes  with  a  hammer, 
was  found  to  have  stretched  under  it  (although  it  had  begun  to  crack  on 
the  edges),  growing  more  thin  on  the  beaten  part,  and  leaving  visible  im- 
preaslons  made  on  it  by  the  edge  of  the  hammer.  Mr.  Boyle,  very 
prudently,  declines  expressing  his  own  opinion  on  this  subject. 

p  2 


212  MANUSCRIFrS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEOUE. 

VII.  [257]  How  to  make  white  fflasi,  and  glau  of  varum 
colours, — G\bs&  is  made  with  the  ashes  both  of  fern  and  of 
^^  faina  "  ^ — ^that  is,  of  the  smaU  trees  which  grow  in  the  woods. 
The  fern  is  cut  before  the  Feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  weQ 
dried,  and  is  then  put  into  the  fire  and  reduced  to  ashes.  So 
also  the  ^'  faina "  is  reduced  to  ashes  in  the  fire.  Hen  take 
two  parts  of  fern,  and  one-third  part  of  "  faina,"  and  mix  them 
together.  Then  make  a  furnace  of  stones,  fiau^d  with  day 
mixed  with  horse-dung.  You  must  make  the  foundation  quite 
smooth  to  the  height  of  half  a  cubit,  and  leaye  a  hollow  in  tlie 
furnace  without  any  materials — ^that  is,  you  must  put  nothing 
in  tlie  middle  of  the  furnace,  because  the  fire  must  be  in  the 
middle  of  the  furnace  while  it  is  at  work.  Upon  the  foundation 
of  the  furnace  you  must  be^  to  make  three  small  compart- 
ments, which  are  called  '^  archse,"  in  which  there  must  be  small 
windows.  You  must  make  the  middle  arch  large,  with  two  win- 
dows in  it,  one  on  one  side,  and  one  on  the  other.  In  the  middle 
arch,  just  opposite  the  door  of  the  arch,  must  be  placed  two 
jars,  very  well  baked,  which  they  call  ^^  mortariola,"  in  which 
the  ashes,  or  sand,  as  it  may  be  called,  is  melted,  and  the  glass 
is  made.  And  you  must  make  the  other  arches,  one  on  the 
right  hand  and  one  on  the  left  of  the  middle  arch,  and  the  one 
on  the  right  hand  smaller  than  the  one  on  the  left.  In  the 
arch  on  the  left  hand  side  you  must  heat  the  ashes  for  a  day 
and  a  night;  and  you  must  heat  them  until  they  cohere  into  a 
mass.  In  this  arch  also  you  must  bake  your  melting  pots  per- 
fectly, in  order  that  they  may  be  firm  and  hard,  so  as  to  hold 
and  melt  the  glass  without  breaking.  When  the  whole  of  the 
ashes  have  been  well  baked,  and  for  a  very  long  time,  put  them 
into  your  melting  pots  with  an  iron  spoon,  and  melt  them  until 
they  become  white.    If  you  wish  it  [the  glass]  to  become  red, 

*  Theophilus  employs  the  ashes  of  beech-wood,  '*  ligna  fiufhiea.*'  It 
seems  to  me,  therefore,  not  improbable  that  ^'  faina  "  ma/  have  been  an  old 
French  term  for  the  seedling  beeches  which  grew  wild  in  the  woods,  the 
beechnut  being  still  called  in  French  *'  ialne."  The  ashes  of  the  beech-tree 
are  mentioned  afterwards,  in  treating  of  the  purple  and  flesh-coloured  glass. 


ERACUUS  DB  COLORIBUS  EX  ARTIBUS  ROMANORTJM.  213 

VII.  [257]  Qojomodo  efficitur  vttrum  [album  ^  et  etiam  de  di- 
versis  colaribus]. — ^Vitrum  efficitur  de  cineribus,  id  est,*  de  filicis 
cinere,*  et  de  faina,  id  est,^  de  parvulis  arboribus  quas  sunt 
▼el  crescimt  in  sylvis.  Acdpitur  autem  filix  ante  Festum 
S.  Johannis  Baptiste,  et  optime  riccatur,  deinde  ad  ignem 
Biittitur  et  fit  cinis.  Similiter  et  faina  efficietur  cinis  per 
ignem.  Acdpiea  itaque  duas  partes  de  filice,  et  terciam 
partem  de  faina,  et  simul  misces.  Deinde  facies  fumum  de 
petris  argiUa  linitis  mixta  de  stercore  jumentorum.  Funda- 
mentnm  ejus  altitudine  dimidii  cubiti  totum  planum  facies; 
jMX)fundum  fumi  dimittes  sine  materia,  id  est,^  in  medio  fiimi 
nihil  facies,  quod  in  medio  ejus  ignis  quando  operatur  semper 
fadendus  est  Super  fimdamentum  fumi  incipies  facere  tres 
mansiunculas,  quae  arche  nominantur,  in  quibus  erunt  fenes- 
trelke.  Mediam  archam  magnam  fiunes,  in  qua  du8e  fenestra 
erunt,  una  ex  parte  una,  et  alia  ex  parte  altera.  In  istam 
arcbam  intus  ante  os  archse  duas  oUas  optime  coctas  ponunt,^ 
quas  mortariola  Yocant,  in  quibus  cinis  sive  ^  arena,  ut  dicetur, 
fonditur,  et  yitrum  efficitur.  Alias  autem  archas  fades  unam 
a  dextris  mediae  archse,  et  alteram  a  simstris.  Blam  autem 
quae  est  a  dextris  minorem  &des  ilia  quae  a  sinistris  est.®  In 
archa  sinistrae  partis  una  die  et  una  nocte  cinerem  coques. 
In  tantum  vero  coqui  fades,  ut  simul  *  sit  agglutinatus.^*  In 
hac  quoque  archa  mortariola  tua  penitus*^  coqui  &de8,  et,  ut 
firma  sint  et  duriora  ad  vitrum  sustinendum  et  coquendum,  ne 
frangantur.  Quando  autem  cinis  totus  et  diutissime  et  optime 
coctus  fiierit,  tunc  mittes  eum  in  mortariolis  tuis  cum  coclea 
ferrea,  et  funde  eum  tamdiu,  donee  effidatur  album.  Si  vero 
▼is  ut  efficiatur  rubeum,  de  cinere  non^'  bene  cocto,  sic  fiEides. 
Acdpe  limaturam  cupri,  et  arde  cam  quousque  pulvis  at,  et 
mitte  ilium  in  mortariolis,  et  erit  vitrum  rubeum,  quern  GaUe- 
num  vocamus.     Viride  vero  vitrum  ita  feicies.     De  eodem 


^  Ex  P.  *Ide9t?.;  Et  R.  '  Cmere  omittit  R.  «  Id  est  P. ;  Ant  R. 
•Id  est  Y.  EtR.  «  Pontin/ omittit  R.  ?  Seni  P.  •  Qua  est  a  simstrit 
R.    •  SmUiter  R.    ^"^  Ckmghamatus  P.    "  Prnmius  P.    "  Tamen.  Cant. 


214  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JBHAK  LE  BEGUE. 

you  will  do  as  follows,  with  ashes  not  well  baked.  Take  cop- 
per filings,  bum  them  until  they  are  reduced  to  powder,  and 
throw  them  into  your  melting  pots ;  and  this  will  make  red 
glass,  which  we  call  ^^  galienum."  Green  glass  you  will  make 
thus.  Throw,  of  the  same  powder  of  burnt  copper  into  your 
melting  pots,  as  much  as  you  think  proper,  and  stir  it,  and  it 
will  be  green.  Yellow  glass  is  thus  made.  Take  raw  aBhes, 
and  put  them  into  the  melting  pot  and  melt  them,  and  throw  a 
little  sand  in  with  them,  and  a  little,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  of 
the  powder  of  copper,  and  stir  the  whole  together ;  and  it  will 
make  a  yellow  glass,  wbidi  we  call  *^  cerasin.''  Purple  and 
*^  membranaceum  "  are  made  diflferently,  with  the  ashes  of  the 
beech-treCj  which  are  baked  like  white  ashes,  and  put  into  a 
melting  pot,  and  melted  and  boiled  until  they  bum  to  a  purple 
colour.  While  the  glass  is  boiling,  stir  it  about  frequently,  like 
the  other  glass,  as  we  have  said  before.  When  you  see  it  turn 
to  a  purple  colour,  take  what  quantity  you  like  of  it,  and  do 
whatever  you  like  with  it,  until  you  see  it  turn  pale.  From 
this  pale  colour  it  changes  to  another  colour,  which  is  called 
"  membrun/* 

But  when  you  wish  to  make  tablets  or  plates,  take  iron  tabes 
of  the  length  of  one  cubit,  more  or  less,  as  you  may  think  fit, 
and  at  the  end  of  each  tube  a  little  wooden  tube,  having  a  very 
small  hole,  through  which  you  must  blow  when  you  wish  to 
make  a  vase.  When  you  begin  to  work  the  glass,  take  <me 
tube,  and  look  into  the  melting  pot  to  see  whether  the  glass  is 
well  cleared  and  melted.  Then  dip  the  tube  into  the  melting 
pot  and  take  up  a  little  glass  upon  it,  like  dough,  and  whirl  it 
round  in  your  hand,  and  form  whatever  you  please  upon  the 
iron  slab  which  is  placed  at  the  mouth  of  the  furnace.  And 
you  must  make  a  screen  of  brickwork,  to  avoid  being  scorched 
by  the  fire ;  and  inside  this  you  must  put  the  iron  slab,  which 
is  called  ^'  marmor,"  upon  which  you  must  shape  the  glass 
which  you  are  working,  and  you  may  form  whatever  kind  of 
vase  you  like.  When  your  vase,  or  cup,  or  saucer,  or  phial,  is 
made,  you  must  put  it  into  the  arch  which  is  on  the  left  hand 


ERACUUS  DB  C0L0RIBU3  £T  ARTIBUS  BOMANORUM.  215 

pnlyere  cupri  combusti '  in  mortariolo  pones  quantum  tibi 
visum  fuerity  et  movebisy  et  erit'  viride.  Croceum  quoque 
vitnim  sic  efficitur.  Cinerem  crudum  accipies,  et  mittes  in 
mortariolo,  et  fundes  eum,  projicies  que  modicum  sabuli  intus 
cum  eo,  et  parum,  ni  fisiUor,  de  pulvere  cupri,  et  movebis  simul, 
et  efficietur  croceum  yitrum,  quod  nos  Cerasin  vocamus.  Pur* 
pureum  et  Membranaceum'  aliter  efficiuntur*  de  cinere  arboris 
&gi,  et,  sicut  cinis  albus,  ita  coquitur,  et  mittitur  in  olla,  et 
tamdiu  fimditur  bulliendo,  quousque  vertatur  in  colorem  pur- 
pureum.  Dum  bullit  sepe  movebis,  sicut  et  aliud  vitrumi 
ut*  supra  docuimus.  Quando  videbid*  eum  verti  in  purpureum 
colorem^  illico  toUe  quantum  vis,  et  fac  opus  quod  volueris 
usque  dum  videris  eum  mutari  [in  palloremJ  De  colore  pal- 
lido  mutatur]  in  aliud  quod  membrun'  vocatur. 

Quando  vero  vasa  vel  tabulas  facere  volueris,  habebis  virgas 
ferreas  intus  cavatas  longitudine  unius  cubiti,  aut  plus,  vel 
minus  [ut  videbis  opportunum^]  et  in  summitate  virgse  parvu- 
lum  lignum  intus  cavum,  habens^®  unum  foramen  parvissimum 
per  quod  sufflabis  quando  operari  volueris  aliquod  vas;  et 
quando  de  vitro  operari  incipies,  accipies  virgam  unam,  et  in 
mortariolo,  si  sit^^  bene  purgatus  vel  fiisus^'  fuerit  cims,  aspides. 
Tunc  mittes  virgam  in  mortariolo,  attrahesque  modicmn  vitri 
quasi  parumper  pastae,  et  circumduces  manu  tua  in  girum,  et 
formabis  quod  tibi  placuerit  super  marmorem  fern  qui  positus 
est  juxta  08  fumi.  Nam  ibi^'  fades  obstaculum  quoddam^^  ma- 
cerie,  ne  ab  igne  consumeris,  in  quo  pones  tabulam  ferri  quae 
marmor  vocatur,  super  quem  formabis  vitnun  quando  opera- 
beris,  et  &des  qualecunque  vas  placuerit  tibi.^  Facto  autem 
vase  veP*  cipho  vel  scutella  vel  fiala,  mittes  in  archa  quas  est  in 
sinistra  parte  furni  ut  ibi  temperetur  donee  refrigescat 

*  Ckqm  combusti  omittit  R.  '  Et  erii  R. ;  eriique  P.  "  Memhntmtm, 
Cant  «  Efficitur  vel  efficiuntur  P.  «  Sicut  R.  ^  Videris  R.  7  Ex  R. 
•  Membranum.  Cant.  *  Ex  P.  ^«  Ckmctwwn  habentem  P.  "  Sit  Inserit  P. 
>*  Pondatus  vdfonditus  P.  "  Tibi  P.  ^*  Quadam  R.  *'  Qualecunque 
vas  sicut  placuerit  in  oculis  tuis  P.      ^'Id  est  P. 


216  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  US  BBQUE. 

side  of  the  furnacey  that  it  may  be  annealed  there  until  it  is 
cool. 

But  when  you  wish  to  spread  ont  plates  of  glass — that  is,  to 
make  them  smooth — heat  them  again  in  the  furnace,  and 
spread  them  out  in  the  small  window,  which  is  called  **  expla- 
naria,"  which  is  near  the  left  hand  side  of  the  arch.  When 
they  are  spread  out,  put  them  into  a  small  furnace  made  on 
purpose,  and  let  them  remain  there  until  quite  cold.  And 
there  must  be  put  live  coals  in  the  furnace,  and  as  they  go  out, 
so  the  glass  cools. 

VIII.  [271]  How  fflass  is  made  of  lead,  and  haw  it  is  co- 
loured.^— Take  good  and  shining  lead,  and  put  it  into  a  new  jar, 
and  bum  it  in  the  fire  until  it  is  reduced  to  powder.  Then  take 
it  away  from  the  fire  to  cool.  Afterwards  take  sand  and  mix 
with  that  powder,  but  so  that  two  parts  may  be  of  lead  and  the 
third  of  sand,  and  put  it  into  an  earthen  vase.  Then  do  as  before 
directed  for  making  glass,  and  put  that  earthen  vase  into  the 
furnace,  and  keep  stirring  it  until  it  is  converted  into  glass. 
But  if  you  wish  to  make  it  appear  green,  take  hraaa  filings, 
and  put  as  much  as  you  think  proper  into  the  lead  ^ass ;  and 
then,  if  you  wish  to  make  any  vase,  do  so  with  the  iron  tube. 
Afterwards  take  out  this  vase  with  the  glass,  and  let  it  cool. 
You  may,  if  you  like,  mix  some  of  this  leaden  glass  with  a 
grossinum  of  sapphire  for  painting  on  glass,  adding  to  it  one- 
third  part  of  scoria  of  iron.  And  this  pigment  is  to  be  ground 
on  an  iron  slab. 

DL  [235]  How  to  cut  fflass  and  other  stones.^ — ^llie  Saracens 
whip  the  udder  of  a  goat  well  with  sting-nettles,  and  then  rub 
it  with  their  hands  to  get  the  milk  down  into  it    It  is  then 

*  The  latter  part  of  this  chapter  should  be  compered  with  No.  ziix., 
'^  Quomodo  pingitur  in  vitro." 
'  See  Mappe  Clavicula,  p.  63. 


EXPERIMENTA  DB  COLORIBUS.  69 

Pro  marie,  ferriini,  cujus  rabigo  violacea  est,  et  pocius  ni- 
gredini  comparata. 

Pro  Mercario,  argentum  vivum,  de  quo  fiunt  sinopis,  et 
miniiim,  qui  rubei  simt. 

Pro  jove,  stagDum. 

Pro  yenere,  ramum,  seu  es,  cujus  rubigo  viridis  est. 

Pro  satumoy  plumbum,  cujus  rubigo  albus  color  est. 

Item,  nota,  quod  in  ezemplari  a  quo  prescripta  sumpsi,  in  hoc  loco, 
scriptum  sic  erat,  "  totum  quod  continetur  in  isto  quaterno,  scilicet  a 
principio  numeri  1,  usque  hiCyScripsi  in  Janua,  anno  1409,  de  mense 
Junii,  extrahendo  ab  uno  quaterno  michi  prestato  per  Fratem  Dio- 
nuium  de  C*^)*  ordinis  Servorum  Sancte  Marie,  qui  ordo 

in  Mediolano  dicitur  *  del  sacho.'  " 

Item,  in  eodem  exemplari,  super  margine  recepte  immediate  tequentis, 
qua  incipit  numerus  47,  scribebatur  sic,  '*  habui  in  Janua  istam  re- 
ceptam  die  prime  Marcii,  1409." 

47.  Ad  faciendum  optimum  attramentum  pro  scribendo^  pre- 
cipue  libros. — Recipe  bocales  iiii®'  optimi  vini  ?ermigii  vel  albi, 
et  libram.i.  galle  modicum  firacte,  que  ponatur  in  dicto  vino,  et 
stet  in  ipso  per  duodecim  dies,  et  agitetur  omni  die  cum  baculo, 
ultima  vero  die  colletur  bene  subliliter  per  colatorium  tele  linee ; 
postea  ponatur  in  vase  mondo  ad  ignem,  et  callefiat  usque  dum 
quasi  bulliat ;  deinde  deponatur  ab  igne,  et  cum  refrigidatum 
sit,  taliter  quod  sit  tepidum,  ponantur  in  ipso  onzie  iiii^  gummi 
arabici  bene  lucidi  et  clari,  et  agitetur  cum  baculo ;  deinde 
ponatur  libra  h  vitrioli  romani,  et  semper  misceatur  cum  baculo, 
donee  bene  incorporentur  omnia  simul,  et  infri^detur  et  usui 
serretur.  Et  nota  quod  attramentum  factum  cum  vino  est  bo- 
num  ad  scribendum  libros  scienciarum,  que  cum  de  ipso  script! 
sunt  libri,  non  cadunt  littere,  neque  quasi  raddi  possunt,  nee 
expelli  de  carta,  nee  de  papiro.  Set  si  scripti  sunt  de  attramento, 
seu  incausto,  facto  de  aqua,  non  est  sic,  que  bene  radi  possunt 
leviter^  et  accidere  potest  quod  littere  de  ipso  scripte  caduce 
sint 

VOL.  I.  *  F  8 


70  MANUSCRIPTS  OP  JEHAN  LE  BEGtJE. 

4  bottles  of  wiue,  or  water,  or  half  of  each. 

1  pound  of  galls  of  xij.  oz.  to  the  pound. 

4  oz«  of  gum  arable. 

6  oz.  of  Roman  vitriol. 

And  if  you  took  equal  parts  of  each,  galls,  gum,  and  yitriol, 
as  much  of  one  as  of  the  other,  by  weight,  it  would  still  be 
good ;  as,  for  instance,  6  oz.  of  each,  which  would  be  sufficient 
for  the  said  4  lbs.  of  wine  or  water,  or  of  wine  and  water  mixed 
as  before. 


OTHER  EXPERIMENTS  NOT  UPON  COLOURS. 

48.  The  preparation  of  Tucia. — Take  as  much  as  you  please 
of  Alexandrine  tucia,  pulverize  it  well,  put  it  in  an  iron  ladle, 
and  distemper  it  over  the  fire  until  the  tucia  becomes  red. 
Then  take  vinegar  and  urine,  and  stir  it  in  well  with  a  rod 
until  the  tucia  becomes  of  a  citrine  colour. 

49.  To  make  brass, — Take  thin  plates  of  copper,  clean 
them  well  with  salt,  urine,  and  honey,  and  when  they  become 
red,  and  are  well  cleansed,  take  red  honey,  and  rub  it  over  the 
plates ;  then  sprinkle  powdered  tucia  on  the  honey  and  liquefy 
it  in  a  sheU  with  '  (?)  of  holly,  it  will  then  be  very  good 
brass. 

50.  To  write  with  Mack  an  gold  or  silver, — ^Take  burnt  lead 
and  sulphur,  distemper  them  together,  and  write  on  the  gold 
or  silver ;  then  heat  it  with  fire,  and  the  desired  eflect  will  be 
produced. 

51.  To  redden  white  bones. — Distemper  sal  ammoniac  with 
pure  water,  put  any  bones  into  the  water  and  leave  them  for 
2  days.  Add  some  Brazil  wood  raspings,  and  a  little  ley,  and 
leave  them  for  2  days  more.     Then  take  them  out,  and  if  they 


*  The  word  is  illegible  in  the  original. 


ERACUUS  DB  C0L0RIBXJ8  ET  ARTEBUS  ROMANORUM.  219 

et  in  eo  per  unam  noctem,  vitrum  cum  ferro  ponitur^  cum  quo 
debet  incidi  [temperabitur  in  ipso  lacte  ferrum,  aut  in  lotio 
parvae  puellae  rufte,  quod  excipiturante  ortum  solis*].  At  vero 
lac,'  cum  necesse  fuerit,  recalefiat  cum  ^  eadem  calitudine,  qua 
fuitprius^  mulBum,  et  in  eo  semper  vitrum  calefiat  [donee* 
moUe  fiat j  et  sic  incidatur.  Sic  et  alii  lapides.^  [Capra  vero 
hedera  pascatur.]* 


X.  [236]  Qtwmodo  sculpuntur  preciosi  lapides,  poliunturque^ 
et  splendificantur.^ — Sume  hircum  qui  nunquam  coierit,  et  pone 
in  cnppa  ^^  per  tres  dies  [quousque  totum  digerat  quod  in  ventre 
habet.  Postea  hederam  da  ei  edere  per  iiij.  dies].^^  Posthaec 
purgabis  dolium,  ut  urinam  ejus  accipias.  Posthoc  occides « 
hircum  et  sanguinem  ejus  urinse  commiscebis  ;^  et  sic  lapidem 
impone  per  unam  noctem,  et  posthaec^^  vel  comprime  in  figuram, 
rel  sculpes  si  vis.  Ut  pulcrum  facias,  fac  tibi  tabulam  plum- 
beam,  et  super  banc  asperges  album  silicem  contritum,  ut  piper, 
et  lapidem  desuper  fricabis,  quoadusque  asperitatem  lenies.*^ 
Postea  liga  de  eodem  silice  contrite  in  laneo  panno,  et  inde 
firicabis  angulos  quos  prius^*  aptare  nequisti^^  in  lamina. 
Deinde,  ut  pristinam  lucem  recipiat,  fac  tibi  oleum  de  nucibus, 
et  inde  firicabis.  Adhuc  debes  eum  linire  panno  cerato,  ut 
splendeat  et  sudore  deficiat.^" 

XI.  [254]  Qaomodo  incidatur  ^^  cristallum,  — Accipe  cristal- 
lum,  et  involve  in  panno  lineo  intincto  in  sudore  caprae,  et  cum 
ipso  panno  in  fimo  bovis  involve,  et  sic  cum  cultro  incide,  ut  volu- 
eris,  et  tamen  caute.  Postquam"®  feceris,  mitte  in  aquam  frigi- 
dam.   Dehinc  lica  cum  lamina  plumbea,  et  farina  vel  furfure.'^ 

•  Ponaiur  P.  R.  «  Ex  C. ;  alii  omittunt.  ■  At  vero  lac  C. ;  omittit  P. ; 
at  vero  R.  *  Cum  omittunt  P.  C.  *  Prindtus  C.  •  Ex  C.  f  Alia 
petr€B  C.  '  Ex  C.  *  £x  P. ;  quomodo  sadpuniur  lapides  R. ;  ad  cristallum 
comprimendum  inftguram  C.  '®  Cupam  P.  R.  ^*  Ex  C.  '*  Vd  incides 
•upplent  P.  R.  »•  Miacdna  P.  R.  "  Posthoc  P.  »  Lenieris  R. ;  Linie- 
ris  P.  »•  Prius  omittunt  P.  R.  »'  Nequivisti  C.  >»  Et  sudore  dewutt  C. 
^  Incidetur  P.    ^  Posteaquam  R.    "  Cum  farina  vd  suljure  P. 


220  MANUSCBIPTS  OF  JKELIN  LE  BEQU£. 

Xn.  [266]  How  stonet  are  polished, — ^Take  the  stone  which 
is  called  haematitey  which  must  not  be  too  hard,  or  veined,  but 
very  smooth  and  bri^t ;  and  go  to  a  grindstone,  and  make  it  as 
smooth  as  you  can.  When  it  appears  sufficiently  even,  make  it 
still  smoother  upon  a  tile,  and  afterwards,  that  it  may  be  still 
smoother,  rub  it  upon  a  whetstone.  Then  polish  it  upon  a  leaden 
plate,  and  again  polish  it  still  better  upon  the  hairy  side  of  a 
cow's  skin,  which  must  be  very  smooth  and  clean.  Afterwards 
polish  it  again  on  a  very  smooth  and  polished  piece  of  the  wood 
which  is  called  aspen  or  poplar.  You  may  also  polish  the  teeth 
of  beasts  in  this  way,  and  not  only  teeth,  but  also  whatever 
gold  you  have  used  either  on  walls,  or  wood,  or  even  on  pardi* 
ment 

Xm.  [276]  Of  gilding  [ftn/oiV].— Gilding  is  composed  of 
quicksilver  and  tin,  in  the  proportion  of  three  parts  of  quicksilver 
to  four  of  tin.  Take  a  plate  of  tin,  and  varnish  it  very  thinly 
two  or  three  times,  and  let  it  dry.  Then  take  soot^  and  cervisia, 
and  mix  them  together.  Then  strain  them  and  place  them 
upon  charcoal.  When  they  have  boiled  a  little,  dip  the  tin  into 
the  dish  containing  the  soot  and  cervisia,  and  when  you  see  that 
it  is  sufficiently  done,  take  it  out  of  that  colour,  and  put  it  into 
a  saucerfull  of  cold  water,  and  it  will  then  appear  to  you  to  be 
good.    Aftierwards,  when  you  take  it  out,  it  will  look  like  gold. 

XIV.  [253]  How  to  gild. — Take  seven  parts  of  quicksilver 
and  one  of  gold,  and  mix  them  together,  and  then  put  them  into 
a  saucer,  or  cup,  or  basin,  and  wash  them  with  water,  and  gild 
whatsoever  you  like  with  them.  But  if  you  wish  to  keep  the  gold 
very  long,  squeeze  out  the  quicksilver  through  a  clean  cloth, 
and  the  gold  will  remain,  which  you  may  put  into  a  vase,  and 
so  you  may  preserve  it.  And  when  you  wish  to  gild  with  it, 
mix  it  afresh  with  quicksilver,  and  wash  it 

*  Probably  the  soot  from  burnt  wood,  of  which  the  pigment  called 
'*  Bistre  "  was  made. 


ERACUUS  DE  C0L0IUBT7S  £T  ARTIBUS  ROMAKORUM.  221 

Xn.  [266]  QuonuHh  politur  lapis  [et  dens  animalis.'Y — Sume 
lapidem  qui  dicitur  emantes,  qui  uou  sit  nimis  durus,  neque  yena- 
tufi,*  sed  admodum  planus,  et  clarissimus,  et  vade  ad  molam  fabri, 
et  ut  volueris  planum  fades.  Cum  tibi  visum  fuerit  satisfac- 
turn,  inde  super  tegulam  levins  planabis;  postea  iterum,  ut 
duldusfiaty  cum  cote;  deinde  super  tabulam  plumbeam,  ut 
poliatur.  Hinc  iterum  super  oorium  vaccse  ilia  parte  qme^ 
pilosum  fuit,  quod  planissimum  et  mundissimum^  sit  volo,  super 
quod^  iterum  melius  polies.  Posthoc  super  lignum  quod  tre- 
mulum  vel  populufi^  vocatur,  optime  et  multum  planatum,  polies 
iterum.^  Dentem  vero  bestiarum  poteris  hoc  modo  polire  ;  non 
tantum  dentem,  sed  et  aurum,  quocunque  posueris,  sive  in  muro, 
seu  in  ligno,'  vel  etiam  in  perchameno.^ 

XIII.  [276]  De  deauratura  [petultB  stagnuY^ — Deauratura 
efficitur  de  vivo  argento  et  stanno"  ita  ut  tres  partes  sint  de  vivo 
argento,  ct  quatuor,^'  de  stagno.  Sume  laminam  stagni,  et  ver- 
nicia  illam  duabus  vel  tribus  vicibus  multum  tenuiter,  et  dimitte 
nccare.  Postea  aocipe  fuliginem  et  cervisiam,  et  misce  simul.^' 
Postea^^  cola.  Deinde  pones  super  carbones.  Cumque  aliquan- 
tulum  buUierit,  tunc  in  patella  cum  fuligine  et  cervisia  mitte, 
et  cum  videris  satisfactum,  abstrahe  de  hoc  colore,^^  et  mitte  in 
scutella  plena  aqua  frigida,^*  et  tunc  tibi  non  videbitiu*  bonum. 
Postea,  cum  eum  tuleris,  velut  aurum  eum''  yidebis. 

XIV.  [253]  Deauratura  quomodoJU. — De  argento  vivo  vii. 
partes,^*  et  unam  de  auro  accipies,  et  misces  simul.  Deinde  in 
scutella  vel  in^'  dpho  vel  in  bacino  mitte,  et  de  aqua  ablue,  et 
deauraquod  volueris,  [si^vero  diu  multumque  servare  volueris] 
per  pannum  nitidum'^  argentum  vivum  projides  foras,  et  rema- 
nebit  aurum,  et  in  vase  pones.  Sicque  servare  poteris.  Quando 
vero  deaurare  volueris,  iterum  cum  argento  vivo  misces,  et 
ablues. 

1  Ex  P.  >  VeratuiV.  >  QiksP.;  vdqvaVi,  Quod,  Cant.  * Mundum 
R.  *  Qma  R.  *  Veipopultu  omittit  R.  ^  Novum  capitulum  hie  incipit  R. 
'  Sive  m  Ugno  noe  in  muro  R.  *  Pergtxmeno  P.  *®  £z  P.  "  Stagno  R. 
»•  Quarta  R.  »  Similiter  R.  "  Post  P.  »  Cahre  R.  "  Et  plena  aqua 
frigida  in  scuteOa  mitte  R.  *'  Eum  omittit  R.  ^  Partes  omittit  R.  »  In 
omittit  R.    ^  £z  P.    '*  Accidum  R. 


222  MANTJSCBIFTS  OF  JBHAN  LB  BBQTJE. 

XV.  [252]  How  brassj  or  silver j  is  giU. — Take  soot  and 
pure  salt,  and  grind  them  well,  and  take  white  of  egg,  and 
distemper  them  with  it  Then  spread  it  oyer  the  alver,  or  gold, 
or  copper,  or  whatever  else  you  wish  to  gild,  laying  this  miztore 
on  those  parts  between  which  you  wish  to  gild  it,  and  put  it  upon 
charcoal,  and  when  it  is  dry,  gild  those  parts  upon  whidi  the 
nuxture  was  not  laid,  and  when  it  is  ^t,  wash  off  the  mixture, 
and  burnish. 

XYI.  [249]  Haw  to  gild  In'oss.—Take  three  parts  of  atra- 
mentum  and  one  part  of  salt,  and  grind  them  with  vinegar ; 
then  mix  quicksilyer  with  them,  and  grind  them  all  together 
again.  Next  take  a  clean  doth  and  dip  it  in  atramentum,  and 
rub  the  brass  strongly  with  it  Then  put  it  into  the  fire  until 
it  is  thoroughly  red-hot,  when  it  must  be  removed  irom  the  fire 
andsufiered  to  cool.    You  may  then  gild  it  like  gold  <»*  copper. 

XVII.  [237]  Haw  to  gild  iran.'-^  Grind  brass  filings  with 
vinegar  in  a  brass  mortar,  with  salt  and  alum,  to  the  consistence 
of  honey :  some  persons  use  water  instead  of  vinegar.  Then  the 
iron,  well  cleaned,  and  slightly  warmed,  must  be  anointed  and 
rubbed  with  this,  until  it  is  of  the  colour  of  brass.  It  is  then 
washed  with  water  and  wiped,  and  gilt  like  silver,  and  the 
quicksilver  driven  off  in  the  usual  manner  by  heat ;  and  in  order 
to  make  it  shine  it  is  rubbed  with  an  iron. 

XVIII.  [238]  Otherwise.— GlohvlBT  alum  (?)'  and  salt, 
which  is  called  sal  gem  and  calcanthum,  are  ground  with  vinegar 

*  See  CUvicuIa,  p.  37. 

'  The  different  readings  of  these  words  have  ctst  ornch  obscurity  over 
the  passage.  The  word  **  glumen/'  however,  does  not  appear  to  be  sus- 
ceptible of  any  other  explanation  than  the  reading  in  the  Mappse  Clavi- 
cula  (p.  39),  which  has  been  followed  in  the  text.  Additional  weight  is 
given  to  this  construction  by  the  word  '*  alumine  "  being  used  in  a  manner 
somewhat  similar  in  the  recifie  immediately  preceding.  The  correspond- 
ence of  the  other  parts  of  the  recipes  will  also  be  observed.  Salt,  which 
is  mentioned  in  the  first,  is  substituted  for  the  sal  gem  (the  purest  kind  of 
rock  salt)  of  the  second,  and  the  brass  filings  of  the  first  recipe  for  the 
calcanthum  (sulphate  of  copper)  of  the  second. 


ERACUUS  BE  COLORIBUS  ET  ARTIBUS  ROMANORUM.  223 

XV.  [252]  Quomodo  deauraiur  cbs,  vel  auricalcum^  vel  argeu" 
turn} — Accipe  iiiliginem  et  purum  sal ;  teres  fortiter,  accipiesque 
glaream  ovi  et  distemperabis.  Deinde  linies  aunun,  vel  argen- 
turn,  vel  cuprum,  vel  aliud  quod  yolueris  deaurare,  et  ibi  ubi 
Yolueris  interim  deaurare  illam  distemperaturam  superpones,' 
et  super  carbones  mittes.  Cum  fiierit  siccatum,  deaurabis  ubi 
non  fuerit  podtum,  etquando  deauratum  fiierit,  ablues  distem- 
peraturam, et  bumies. 

XVI.  [249]  Quomodo  deaurcUur  auricalcum,^ — Deatramento 
tres  partes,  et  salis  unam  partem  accipies,  et  cum  [aceto  ^  fortiter 
teres,  deinde  argentum  yivum  cum  eis  misces,  et  in  simul  iterum 
teres].  Postea  accipe  pannum  nitidum,  et  intinges  in  atramen* 
tum,  et  auricalcum  fortiter  fricabis.  Deinde  mitte  in  ignem 
quousque  totum  rubeum  fiat  Postea  retrabe  ^  ab  igne,  et  sine 
refrigerari.     Tunc  poteris  deaurare  sicut  aurum  vel  cuprum. 

XVII.  [237]  Quomodo  ferrum  deauratur.^ — Eris  [pulvis' 
vel]  limatura  teritur*  cum  aceto  in  mortario  aereo,'  et  ^°  cum  sale 
et  alumine,  usque  ad  mellis  spissitudinem.  Aliqui  pro  aceto 
aqua  utuntur.  Deinde  ferrum  bene  purgatum,"  et  leviter 
calefactum,  bac  mixtura  inungitur,^  et  fncatur,  donee  colorem 
fieris^'  accipiat  Posthsec^^  abluitur  aqua,^^  et  tergitur,^^  et  sicut 
es  vel"  argentum  deauratur^^  et  calefactum,  recedente^'  vivo 
argento,  sicut  mos  est,*^  ut  splendorem  accipiat,  ferro  defricatur. 

XVIII.  [238]  Aliter.^ — ^Alumen  rotundum,  et  sal,  quod  gem- 
ma vocatur,"  et  calcanthum,"  ex  aceto  acerrimo  teruntur  in  aereo 

^  Quomodo  deauratur  vel  entrum  vel  argentum  R.  *  Suppones  R.  '  Ori-' 
calcwn  R.  *  Ex  P.,  R.  babet  eia  misces  ei  msimiHter  tercium  teres. 
»  IVahe  P.  •  Sic  P.  R. ;  mauroHo  ferri  C.  (p.  64).  In  C.  (p.  37) 
ptrtem  alterius  capituli  facit.  ?  C.  (p.  37).  "  Teratur  P.  R.  •  In  eneo 
mortario  C.  (p.  37),  in  hereo  mortario  C.  (p.  64).  **  Et  omittit  C. 
"  Sic  C.  (p.  64) ;  Deinde  ferrum  multum  purgatum  P.  R.  JDenigue 
bene  purgatum  ferrum  C.  (p.  37).  "  Inungatur  P.  »  Eis  P.,  Heris  C. 
(p.  64) ;  eris  C.  (p.  37).  "  Posthoc  P. ;  posthac  R. ;  tunc  C.  (p.  37). 
**  Abluta  aqua  R. ,  agua  abluitur  C.  *«  Ter&ur  C.  (p.  37).  >'  Aurum  et 
R. ;  es  velC;  omittit  P.  ^  Deauratum  P.  ^  Eecedendo  R.  *•  Et 
supplet  P.  "  Sic  P.  R.  C.  (p.  64).  In  C.  (p.  37)  partem  facit  capituli  cxlvj. 
**  Ex  C.  (p.  37).  Glumen  rotundum  et  salvamhrniy  quod  sal  Gemma  voca/ur 
P.  R. ;  ahimen  rotundum  et  salvandum,  quodsaHs  gemma  vacatur  C.  (p.  64). 
^CalcantumC. 


224  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAK  LB  BEGUE. 

in  a  brass  mortar.  This  is  rubbed  over  the  dean  iron  with  a 
cane  or  any  other  light  stick,  and,  when  it  has  the  colour  of  brass, 
it  is  washed  and  gilt  The  quicksilver  is  then  driven  off,  and  it 
is  cooled  with  water,  and  then  rubbed  down  with  a  very  smooth 
and  bright  iron  until  it  is  well  polished. 

XIX.  [239]  Haw  ivory  is  benJt  and  ornamented.— U  you 
wish  to  bend  and  adorn  ivory,  put  it  into  the  aforesaid  mixture 
for  three  days  and  three  nights.'  Having  done  this,  hoUow 
out  a  piece  of  wood  in  whatever  manner  you  like,  and  then  put 
the  ivory  into  the  CAvity,  and  turn  and  bend  it  just  as  you  like. 
A  plate  of  copper,  10  inches  in  breadth,  and  the  same  in  length, 
can  be  gilt  with  [the  wei^t  of]  one  denarius'  of  gold. 

XX.  [250]  How  to  restore  gold. — ^If  you  have  gilt  any  vase 
which,  through  negligence,  has  lost  the  gilding,  take  atramentnm 
and  salt,  well  ground  together,  and  spread  some  of  it  over  the 
vase.  Then  place  it  before  the  fire  to  dry ;  and  give  it  another 
coat,  then  place  it  again  before  the  fire.  Do  tliis  three  or  four 
times,  and  it  will  recover  its  former  colour,  which  it  had  lost. 

XXI.  [267]  How  to  varnish  gold  so  that  it  will  not  lose  its 
colour. — If  you  wish  to  varnish  gold  that  has  been  laid  upon 
gypsum,  yamiah  oyer  the  gold,  not  wiih  pure  ramish,  but  with 
that  colour  which  is  made  for  preparing  auripetmm,'  mixed, 
however,  with  oil,  and  a  little  varnish,  lest  it  should  be  too 
thick.  And  so,  if  in  any  part  the  colour  of  the  gypsum  should 
appear  through  [the  gold],  it  may  be  covered  with  this  colour. 
But  you  may  varnish  figures  and  other  colours  witb  pure 
varnish  or  with  thick  oil. 

XXII.  [248]  How  to  solder  goldf  or  silver^  or  copper  J  or  brass. 
— Take  three  parts  of  brass,  and  three  parts  of  tin,  and  melt 

^  See  Clavicula,  p.  64. 

'  It  is  obvious  that  the  author  is  here  speaking  of  the  weight  of  the  coin, 
for  the  denarius  was  not  a  gold  coin.  Celsus  informs  us  that,  from  the  time 
of  Tiberius  to  that  of  Vespasian,  seven  of  them  were  made  from  one  ottnc« 
Troy  weight.  At  a  later  period  eight  were  made  from  the  ounce  Troy. 
In  the  lower  empire  they  scarcely  weighed  half  so  much  in  pure  silver. 

<  The  composition  of  this  colour  is  described  in  No.  iliv.,  which  is  not  in 
the  Cambridge  MS.  From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  MS.  published  by 
Raspe  was  really  defective. 


ERACLIUS  BE  COLORIBUS  ET  AR'HBUS  ROMANORUM.  225 

mortario.  £x^  his  ferrum  purgatum,  cum  ferula,'  yel  alia 
qualibet  levi  hastula,'  defricatur,  et,  cum  sris  habuerit 
colorem,^  detergitur,^  et  deauratur ;  deinde,'  exfumigato  vivo 
argento'',  aqua  refirigeratur,'  et*  usque  ad  splendorem,  ferro 
valde  piano  et  limpido,  defricatur. 

XIX.  [239]  Quamodo  dirigitur  et  omatur  ebury^ — Quod  d 
volueris  ebur  dirigere  et  ornare,^^  in  hac  supradicta  confectione 
mittatur  tribus  diebus  et  tribus ''  noctibus.  Hoc  facto,  cavabis 
lignum  quali  modo  volueris ;  deinde,  posito  ebore  in  cavatura,^ 
diriges  illud,  et  plicabis  ad  placitum.^^  Tabula  cupri  quae 
decern  poUices  habet  in  latitudine,  et  totidem  in  lon^tudine, 
denario  auri  deaurari  ^^  potest. 

XX.  [250]  QfLomodo  reeuperatur  deauratura. — Si  aliquod 
vas  babueris  deauratum,  et  per  negligentiam  deauraturam  per- 
diderit,  accipe  atramentum,  et  sal  cum  eo  bene  tritum,  et  lini 
illud  vas.  Postea  pone  ad  ignem  seccare,  et  iterum  linies,  et 
ad  ignem  pones.  Hoc  facies  tribus  vel  ^*  quatuor  vicibus,  et 
recuperabit  colorem  pristinum.^^ 

XXI.  [267]  Qiunnodovernici^uraurumneperdat  colorem. — 
Si  aurum  super  gypsum  positum  vemiciare  volueris,  non  de  ^' 
puro  vemido,  sed  de  illo  colore  qui  efficitur  ad  auripetram  ^* 
faciendum,  mixto  tamen  ^  cum  oleo  modico  vemicio,  ne  mmis  sit 
spissnm,*^  vernicietur*' super  aurum.  Ideo  si  aliquid''  gipsei 
colons  apparuerit,**  hoc  colore  operiri  potent.  Imagines  vero 
et  alios  colores  de  puro  vemicio,  vel  de  crasso  oleo,  poteris 
vemiciare. 

XXn.  [248]  Quomodo  poteris  solidare  aurum  vel  argentum 
vel  cuprum^  vel  auricalcum, — Accipe  tres  partes  de  auricalco,  et 

»  Ex  omittit  C.  (p.  37).  «  Feriira  C.  (p.  64).  ■  Hattula  R. ;  astula  P. 
*  Cym  eramiwU  colorem  habuerii  C.  (p.  37) ;  cum  heris  colorem  habueni 
C.  (p.  64).  »  Extergitur  C.  (p.  37) ;  retergitw  C.  (p.  64).  •  Ac 
demde  C.  ^  Argento  vivo  C.  (p.  37).  •  Eefrigerahtm  C.  (p.  87).  •  Et 
omittit  C.  ^*  Sic  P. ;  omittit  R.,  qui  septem  prima  verba  capituli  rubri- 
cavit.  De  ebore  C.  (p.  64).  »  Vd  carvare  C.  »■  DrUnu  omittit  C. 
»  Caniura  R.  P.  ^*  Quod  sequitur  omittit  C.  ^  Decorati  R.  ^«  Et  R. 
*'  Pristimtm  colorem  quern  perdiderat  R.  ^  Circumele  (conde)  R.  *'  Au- 
rum  petrwn  R.  ^  Unde  R.  ^  Ne  sit  spissum  mnds  P.  "  Vemiceter 
R.    **  AUqm  R.    **  Apparuenmi  R.    ^  Vd  cuprum  omittit  R. 

VOL.  I.  Q 


3!26  MANT7SGR1PTS  OF  JEHAN  US  BEOUE. 

them  together  in  a  ladle  over  the  fire,  and  reduce  the  nuus  to 
powder,  and  put  it  away  in  a  box.  Then  take  three  parts  of 
paramentum,  and  bum  it  in  an  earthen  vase  in  the  fire  like 
atramentum.  Then  take  salt,  and  dry  it  well  upon  coal& 
Then  grind  the  salt  and  paramentum  together  with  wine. 
When  you  wish  to  solder  brass  or  copper,  put  some  of  this 
preparation,  made  with  the  salt,  upon  the  brass  or  copper, 
wherever  you  wish  to  solder  it.  Then  immediately  put  some 
of  the  aforesaid  powder  on  it,  and  heat  it  in  the  fire  and  it  wiU 
be  firmly  soldered. 

XXIII.  On  trying  gold  and  silver.^ — All  pure  gold,  of  what- 
ever weight,  is  denser,  by  one-twentieth  part  of  itself,  than  any 
silver,  similarly  pure.  This  may  be  proved  as  follows:  If  one 
pound  of  pure  gold  be  weighed  in  the  balance,  under  water, 
with  an  equal  weight  of  pure  silver,  the  gold  will  be  fcund 
heavier  than  the  silver,  or  the  silver  lighter  than  the  gold,  by 
xii  denarii,  or  one-twentieth  part  of  its  weight  Wherefore  if 
you  have  any  article  made  of  gold,  with  which  silver  appears  to 
have  been  mixed,  and  you  wish  to  know  how  much  gold,  and 
how  much  silver,  is  contained  in  it,  take  silver  or  gold,  and 
having  found  the  wei^t  of  the  said  article,  make  a  mass  of 
either  of  the  metals,  of  exactly  equal  weight,  and,  putting  them 
into  the  scales,  immerse  them  in  the  water.  If  the  mass  which 
you  made  is  of  silver,  the  said  article  will  preponderate.  If  the 
mass  is  of  gold,  the  gold  will  preponderate,  throwing  up  [the 
scale  containing]  the  said  article.  And  it  will  happen,  that  by 
SB  many  parts  as  the  gold  is  heavier,  by  so  many  parts  the 
silver  is  lighter ;  for  whatever  there  may  be  in  the  said  article, 
under  water,  besides  the  usual  weight,  belongs  to  the  gold  on 

*  This  chapter  does  not  form  part  of  the  MS.  of  Le  Begue ;  but  it  will 
be  found,  with  some  variations,  in  Mapps  Clavicula,  p.  46.  From  the 
chapter  in  the  text,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  value  of  the  denarius  was  much 
diminished,  since,  at  the  time  the  above  was  written,  20  denarii  were  equal 
to  an  ounce,  and  240  to  a  jMund. 


ERACLnJg  DB  COLORIfitXS  £T  ARTIBU8  ROMAl^ORUM.  227 

tred  partes  de  stagno,  et  funde  ^  simul  in  conca  ad  ignem,  pul- 
veremque  fiudas,  et  in  buttam  *  recondes.  Postea  accipe  para- 
mentum  tres partes'  et  quasi  atramentum in  testeo  vase  arde  in 
igne.  Accipiesque  sal,  et  super  carbones  optime  siccabis. 
Deinde  paramentum  et  sal  ^  macerabis  simul  cum  vino.  Cum 
vero  auricalcum  vel  cuprum  solidare  volueris,  pones  super 
auricalcum  vel  cuprum  de  ista  confectione,  et  de  sale,  et  tem- 
peramento  facta  ubi  volueris  solidare.  Statimque  de  pulvere 
supradicta  ^  pones,  et  ad  ignem  calefacies,  et  firmiter  solida- 
bitur. 

XXni.  De  probatione  auri  et  argentic — Omne^  aurum 
purum,  cujus  libet  ponderis,  omni  argento  similiter  puro,  ejus- 
dem '  tamen  ponderis,  densius  est  parte  sui  vicesima ;'  quod  ita 
probari  potest  Si  purissimi  auri  libra  cum  equo  '^  puri "  argenti 
simili  pondere^  sub  aqua  conferatur  in  statera,  xii  denariis,^'  id 
est "  vicesima  ^  sui  parte,  aurum  gravius  argento,  vel  argentum 
levius  auro  iuvenietur.  Quapropter  si  inveneris  opus  aliquod  ** 
auro  formatum,  cui  argentum  permixtum  esse^^  videatur, 
scireque  ^'  volueris  quantum  auri,  quantumque  ^*  in  eo  argenti 
contineatur,  sume  argentum  sive  aurum,  et  examinato  supra- 
dicti  operis*'  pondere,  ncc^'  minus  peusantem  massam  de  utro- 
vis**  metallo  Ceibricato,  atque  utraque  et  opus  ef  massam 
statene**  landbus  imponito,^  aquisque  immergito.  Si  argentea 
fuerit  [massa  quam  fecisli,  opus  preponderant;  si  aurea 
fiierit^  alleviato^  opere,  aurum  inclinabitur.  Hoc  tamen  ita 
fiet,  ut  quot  partibus  inclinatur  aurum,  tbtidem  partibus  sub- 
levatur^  argentum;  quia^  quicquid  in  ipso  opere  fuerit  sub 
aquis  pneter  solitum  pondus,*^  ad  aurum,  propter  densitatem, 

'  Fande  P.  '  Butcam  P.  *  Dres  partes  paramentum  P.  *  Sal  et  para- 
mentum  P.  *  Suprtucrtpta  P.  *  Sic  R. ;  de  auri  pondere  C.  (p.  45). 
^  Omnem.  Cant.  '  Eidem.  Cant.  *  Parte  sui  xxUij,  et  insuper  ccxl.  C. 
"•  Bgue  C.  »  Puri,  Omittit  Cant.  "  Ex.  Cant.  »»  xj.  denarUs  C. 
^  Et  R.  ^  xxiuj,  et  ccxl.  C.  '*  Opus  aliquod  inveneris  C.  *'  Per  com- 
mixHtmem  inesse  C.  *'  Que  omittit  R.  ^  Quantumve  C.  *  JExaminaio 
nupectione  C.  **  Abu  C.  "  Utrius  R.  "  Utrumque  opus  scilicet,  et  C. 
*«  Slantem  C.  ^  ImposUo  R.  ■•  £x  R.  "^  AUevato  C.  "  Sutteoetur  C. 
«>  Quod  R.    »  Ponderis  C. 

q2 


228  HAKUSCBIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOTTS. 

account  of  its  greater  density ;  and  whatever  defidency  there 
may  be  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  silver,  on  account  of  its 
greater  rarity.  And  in  order  that  you  may  perceive  it  more 
easily,  you  must  bear  in  mind  that,  in  weight  for  gold,  and  in 
lightness  for  silver,  z  denarii  signify  a  pound,  as  I  have  already 
stated  in  the  former  part  of  this  chapter. 

XXIV.  [268]  How  wood  is  to  be  prepared  before  painting  an 
tV.* — ^Whoever  wishes  to  adorn  any  wood  with  divers  colours,  let 
him  hear  what  I  say.  first  make  the  wood  very  flat  and  sxoooth 
by  scraping  it,  and  lastly  by  rubbing  it  with  that  herb  which  is 
called  shave-grass.  But  if  the  piece  of  wood  is  such  that  you 
cannot  smooth  down  its  inequalities,  or  you  have  reasons  for 
not  wishing  to  do  so,  and  at  the  same  time  are  not  willing  to 
cover  it  with  leather  or  with  cloth,  grind  dry  white-lead  upon  a 
stone,  but  not  so  finely  as  if  you  were  going  to  paint  with  it 
Then  melt  wax  over  the  fire  in  a  vase,  add  tiles  ground  fine. 
Then  mix  it  with  the  white-lead  which  you  had  ground,  stimng 
it  fi^uently  with  a  small  stick,  and  so  let  it  cool.  Then  heat 
an  iron,  and  with  it  melt  the  wax  into  the  little  fissures,  until 
they  are  level,  and  then  scrape  off  the  rough  parts  with  a  knife. 
And  if  you  hesitate  about  mixing  white-lead  with  the  wax, 
know  that  the  more  you  mix  with  it,  the  harder  it  will  be. 
And  when  you  have  made  it  smooth,  as  I  was  saying,  mix 
plenty  of  white-lead  very  finely  ground,  with  linseed-oil,  and 
lay  an  excessively  thin  coat  of  it  wherever  you  intend  to  paint 
with  a  brush  of  ass*s  hair  adapted  for  that  purpose.  Whea 
this  is  dry,  lay  on,  as  you  did  before,  another  and  a' thicker 
coat  of  it,  not  thicker  by  having  a  greater  quantity  of  coioar, 
but  by  having  less  oil  in  it     For  you  must  take  very  great 


*  The  mode  of  preparation  deneribed  in  this  chapter  diflen  essentiall/ 
from  those  usually  followed  ;  inasmuch  as  several  coats  of  white  lead  and 
oil  are  liud  immediately  on  the  wood,  without  a  previous  preparatioQ  of  glue 
and  gesso. 


ERACLIUS  BE  COLORIBUS  ET  ARTIfiUS  BOll/LNORnM.  229 

pertinet ;  quicquid  autem  levitatis,  ad  argentam,  propter  ran- 
tatem,  oonferendum  est.^  Et,  ut  hoc*  iacilius  poasit  adverti, 
ooDsiderare  debes,  tarn  in  gravitate  auri,  quam  in  levitate 
argenti,  x  denarioe'  significare  libram,  sicut  in^  prima  lee- 
tionis  hujus  fronte  prefixum  est. 

XXrV.  [268]  Qu<nnodo(qfieturliffnumanteqvatn  pinffoiur. — 
Quicunque  aliquod  lignum  omare  diverts  coloribus  satagis,  audi 
quae  dico.  Imprimis  ipsum  lignum  multum  rade  equalem,  et 
planissimum  radendo,  et  ad  ultimum  fiicando  cum  ilia  herba 
que  dicitur  asperella.  Quod  si  ligni  materies  talis  fuerit,  ut 
non  posffls  equare  ejus  asperitates,'  vel  non  velis,  propter  ali- 
quas  occasiones,  nee  tamen*  cum  corio  illud''  velis  cooperire,' 
▼el  panno ;'  album  plumbum  teres  super  petram  siccum,  sed 
non  tantum  ^^  quantum  si  inde  pingere  "  velis.  Deinde  ceram 
in  vase  supra  ignem  ^  liquefacies,  tegulamque  tritam  subtiliter ; 
albumque  plumbum,  quod  ante  trivisti,^'  simul  commisces,  se- 
pius  movendo  cum  panro  ligno,  et  sic  sine  refngerari.  Postea 
aliquod  ferrum  fac  calidum,  et,  cum  ipso,  ceram  ^^  funde  in 
ipsaa  cavemulas  donee  equates  sint,  et  sic  cum  cultello  desuper 
abrade  ea  quae  sunt  scabrosa.  Si  autem  album  ^^  plumbum 
miscere  cum  cera  dubitas,  scito  quod  quantum  plus  miscueris, 
tanto  durius  erit.  Et,  sicut  dixi,  jam  equali  facto,  babundan- 
cius  plumbum,  yalde  subtilissime  tritum  cum  oleo  lini,**  de- 
super,  per  totum  ubicunque  pingere  vis,  tenuissime  exten- 
dendo  ^^  cum  pincello  adbino,^'  sic  aptato ;  deinde  ad  solem  ex- 
iccari  bene  permitte.  At  post,^*  cum  siccatus  fuerit  color, 
iterum  superpone,  sicut  prius  fecisti,  de  eodem,  et  spissiorem 
pones ;  sed  non  ita  spissiorem,  ut  abundandus*'  colorem  super- 


■  Bst  referendum  R.  *  Hoc  omittit  R.  *  Denarios  zj.  C.  ^  In  omittit  C. 
»  Agperitatem  P.  *  Id  supplet  P.  ^  IBud  omittit  P.  •  Operire  R.  •  Quod 
seqiiitur  novum  capitulum  facit  P.,  cum  titulo  '*  Quomodo  ligni  ctwema" 
ados  seufoswlas  implebis,"  *«  Ihnium  omittit  P.  "  Inpinge  P.  »  Siqxr 
igneli.  "^Trivissea?.  >«  ip«zm  supplet  P.  ^^  Album  omittit  R.  >*£tm 
oir.ittit  R.  '^  Extendo  P.  Ezierende  Cant.  >>  Aformo  vel  Afwino  P. 
^"  FoU  omittit  R.    ^  Aimndancwrem  R. 


230  MANUSCRIFTS  OF  JEHAK  LB  BEQTJK. 

care  never  to  lay  on  the  colour  too  fat,  for  if  you  do  tfais,  aud 
lay  on  a  great  deal  of  it,  when  it  be^s  to  dry,  wrinkles  will 
form  on  the  surface  of  it^  But  now,  in  order  that  I  may  omit 
nothing  that  relates  to  the  subject,  I  beg  you  will  let  me  return 
to  where  I  was  speaking  of  the  bare  wood  [if  you  were  willing 
to  cover  it  with  a  leather  or  with  a  cloth].  If  the  wood,  which 
you  wish  to  paint  upon,  is  [not]  ismooih,  cover  it  with  leather 
made  of  horse- skin  or  with  parchment 

XXV.  [262]  How  a  colurnn  is  prepared  for  painting, — ^If  you 
wish  to  paint  on  a  column  or  slab  of  stone,  first  let  it  dry  veiy 
perfectly  in  the  sun  or  before  a  fire.  Tlien  take  white,  and  grind 
it  very  finely  with  oil  upon  a  marble  slab.  Afterwards,  the  co* 
lumn  being  well  smoothed  and  polished,  without  any  crevices, 
lay  on  it  two  or  three  coats  of  that  white,  with  a  broad  paint- 
brush. Then  rub  very  sti£F  white  over  it  with  your  hand  at 
with  a  brush,  and  let  it  remain  a  short  time.  When  tolerably 
dry,  press  your  hand  strongly  over  the  white  surface,  drawing 
your  hand  towards  you.  Continue  to  do  this  until  it  is  as 
smooth  as  glass.  You  will  then  be  able  to  paint  upon  it  witb 
all  colours  mixed  with  oil.  But  if  you  wish  to  imitate  the 
veins  of  marble  on  a  general  tint  (brown,  black,  cnt  any  other 
colour),  you  can  give  the  appearance,  when  the  ground  so  pre- 
pared is  dry.*    Afterwards  varnish  it  in  the  sun. 

XXVI.  [280]  If  you  wish  to  paint  a  linen  clothe  and  to  lay 
gold  upon  it,  prepare  it  thus. — Take  parchment,  or  clippings  of 
parchment,  and  put  them  into  a  jar  with  water,  which  must  be 
placed  over  the  fire  and  made  to  boil  as  before  directed ;  then 
dip  a  cloth  into  it,  take  it  out  immediately,  and  stretch  it  out 
on  a  wet  panel,  and  let  it  dry.  Then  burnish  or  polish  it  all 
over  with  a  glass  muller,  and  stretch  it  out,  fastening  it  on  to  a 

^  See  Mr.  Eastlake's  remarks  on  this  subject,  in  his  recent  work,  Mate-* 
rials  for  a  History,  &c.,  p.  37. 

*  I  have  adopted  Mr.  Eastlake's  translation  of  this  aentenoe.  Ibid, 
p.  34. 


EKACLIU3  BE  COLORIBUS  £T  ARTIBUS  ROMANORUM.  231 

ponaB,  sed  ut  oleum  minus  habeat.  Nam  et  in  hoc  multum 
cavendum  edt  ut  nunquam  crassiorem  colorem  superponas; 
quod  si  feceris  et  abunde  posueris,  cum  exiccari  cceperit,  rugse 
desuper  erunt  Nunc  autem  ut  ea  quae  supersunt^  simul 
omnia  dicam,  superius  queso  me  redire  permitte,  ubi  de  ligni 
nnditate  locutus  'sum,  [si*  illud  corio  vel  panno  operire  vo- 
lueris].  Quod  si  lignum,  quod  pingere  volueris,  non'  fuerit 
equale,  corio  equino  vel  perchameno  open  illud. 

XXV.  [262]  Qjucmodopreparaiurcdumpnaadpingendum. — 
Si  vis  aliquam  columnam  vel  laminam  de  petra  pingere,  inprimis 
optime  ad  solem  vel  ad  *"  ignem  siccare  permittes.^  Deinde  * 
album  accipies,"^  et  cum  oleo  super  marmorem  clarissime  teres." 
Postea  iHam  columpnam  jam  bene  sine  aliqua  fossula  planam 
et  politam,  de  illo  albo  cum  lato  pincello  superlinies  duabus 
▼el'  tribus  vicibus.  Postea  imprimes  cum  manu  vel  brussa 
de  albo  spisso,  et  ita  dimittes  paululum.  Cum  vero  modicum 
siccatum  fuerit,^®  cum  manu  tua  album  "  planando  fortiter  re* 
trahes.  Hoc  tamdiu  facies  donee  planum  sit  quasi  vitrum. 
Tunc  vero  poteris  desuper  ^^  de  omnibus  coloribus  ^  cum  oleo 
distemperatis  pingere.  Si  vero  marbrirevolueris,  super  unum  ^^ 
colorem,  vel  brunum,  vel  nigrum,  vel  alium  colorem,  cum  sic- 
cata  fuerit  ^  marbrire  poteris.     Postea  vemicia  ^*  ad  solem. 

XXVI.  [280]  Si  vis  pingere  lini  pannum^  et  aurum  in  ipso 
ponercj  sic  pmepara. — Acdpe  pergamenum  vel  minutias  perga- 
menorum,  et  mitte  in  ollam  cum  aqua,  et  pone  ad  ignem,  et  fac 
buUire  sicut  suprascriptum  est,  et  mitte  in  ea  pannum,  sta- 
timque  extrahe,  et  desuper  tabulam  in  aquam  extende,  et  ita 
dimittes  siccare,  et  tunc  cum  petra  vitrea  bumies,  seu  lissabis, 
per  totum ;  postea  extendes  ipsum,  ligando  in  lignis  cum  filo, 

»  Superius  R.  ■  Ex  P. ;  omittit  R.  •  Voheris,  non  P. ;  ris  R.  *  Ad 
omittit  P.  *  Pemuttas  P.  •  Dem  R.  »  Accgx  P.  •  Tere  P.  •  Vel 
omittit  R.  »•  Fuerit  aUntm  suxatum  P.  "  Album  omittit  P.  "  Desuper 
poteris  P.  "  Et  siipplet  P.  "  Unum  omittit  R.  »*  Fuerunt  R.  "  Kcr- 
niza  P. 


232  MANUSGRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BSGUB. 

wooden  frame  with  the  thread.     You  may  &en  paint  upon  it 
with  colours  distempered  with  size,  or  egg,  or  gum.^ 

XXVn.  [281]  Haw  to  lay  gold  an  the  cloth.— And  if  you 
wish  to  lay  gold  on  the  doth,  apply  it  with  the  hefore-men- 
tioned  size,  and  polish  it. 

XXVIII.  [285]  Of  the  general  practice  in  grinding  aU  co- 
lours.— ^You  must  know,  however,  that  all  colours  may  be 
ground  with  clear  water,  if  they  are  afterwards  allowed  to  dry ; 
and  then  with  white  of  egg,  or  oil,  or  gum-water,  or  wine,  or 
cervisia,  when  they  are  mixed  or  tempered. 

XXIX.  [260]  Haw  ail  is  prepared  far  tempering  colours. — 
Put  a  moderate  quantity  of  lime  into  oil  and  heat  it,  continually 
scumming  it ;  add  ceruse  to  it  according  to  the  quantity  of  oil, 
and  put  it  in  the  sun  for  a  month  or  more,  stirring  it  fre- 
quently. And  know  that  the  longer  it  remains  in  the  sun,  the 
better  it  wiU  be.  Tlien  strain  and  keep  it,  and  distemper  the 
colours  with  it. 

XXX.  [263]  Haw  alumen  *  is  distempered. — Grind  the  alu- 
men  with  gum  and  water  upon  marble,  and  let  it  dry ;  and  when 
you  wish  to  do  anything  with  it,  distemper  it  with  white  of  egg. 

XXXI.  [284]  Of  the  manner  of  preparing  white  of  egg  for 
tempering  colours. — When  you  are  going  to  prepare  white  of 
egg,  take  a  filter,  and  dip  it  in  water,  and  wet  it  well,  and  after- 
wards receive  the  white  of  egg  mixed  with  water  in  this  filter, 
which  must  be  folded  up  so  as  to  be  pointed  at  the  bottom 
and  open  at  the  top ;  and  so,  squeezing  it,  make  it  pass  through 
seven  or  eight  times,  or  oftener  or  less  frequently,  if  necessary, 
for  you  must  do  tins  until  the  white  of  egg  becomes  like  water, 
and  runs  through  without  drawing  into  threads.  Then  take  it 
and  put  it  by ;  or,  if  you  wish,  write  with  it.  Two  vases  are 
necessary  for  preparing  it. 

'  The  sized  cloth  mentioned  in  this  recipe  was  probably  used  for  the 
transparent  painting  practised  by  the  English  and  Germans.  See  Etst- 
lake,  Materials  for  a  History,  &c.,  p.  100. 

'  Sec  No.  L.,  where  alumen  is  said  to  be  a  white  colour. 


ERACUU8  BE  COLORIBXTS  £T  ARTIBXJS  KOMANOKVM.  233 

deinde  cum  coloribus,  cola,  vel  oyo,  ycI  gummi  distemperatis, 
desaper  pingere  poteris. 

XXVII.  [281]  Qiwmodo  aurum  panitur  in  panno, — ^Et  si 
atmim  desuper  ipso  panno  ponere  cupis,  cum  distemperatura 
soprascripta  pones  et  polies. 

XXVm.  [285]  De  pratica  generali  in  movendo  cmnes  colores* 
— Sciendum  autem  est  quod  omnes  colores  cum  aqua  clara  moli 
pofisunty  si  postea  exsiccari  pennittantur,  ut  postea  glarea,  vel 
oleum,  vel  aqua  gummata,  aut  acetum,  seu  vinum,  necnon  cer- 
Yesia,  quomodo  misceantur  aut  temperentur. 

XXIX.  [260]  De  oleoj  quomodo  aptatur  ad  disttemperandum 
colores, — Calcem  in  oleo  mensurate  pone,  et  illud  despumando 
ooque ;  ceroeium  in  eo  secundum  quod  de  oleo  fiierit  pcme,  et 
ad  solem,  per  mensem,  ycI  eo  amplius,  frequenter  removendo, 
pone.  Scito  quod  quanto  diutius  ad  solem  fuerit,  tanto  melius 
erit.    Postea  cola,  et  serva,  et  colores  inde  distempera. 

XXX.  [263]  Alumen  quomodo  debet  distemperari.'^Alumen 
cum  gumma  et  aqua  super  marmorem  tere,  et  dimitte  siccari,  et 
cnm  aliquod  ex  eo  facere  Yolueris,  cum  glarea  OYi  distempera. 

XXXL  [284]  De  modo  parandi  glaream  ovorumy  ad  colores 
ex  ea  temperandos. — Glaream  paraturus  sume  staminium,  et  in 
aqua  intinge  illud ;  et  madidum  sit,  ut  postea  glaream  aque  mix- 
tam,  in  eodem  staminio  duplicate,  subter  summato  (acuminato  f), 
desuper  autem  expanse,  excipe,  et  sic  exprimendo,  fac  transire 
vel  septies  ycI  octies,  ycI  ssepius,  ycI  minus,  si  necesse  fuerit, 
tamdiu  scilicet  debes  hoc  facere,  donee  glarea  quasi  aqua  fit, 
et  tenuis,  one  file,  distillet  Hinc  susceptam  reconde,  ycI,  si 
▼is,  scribe.  Ad  banc  autem  parandam,  duo  vascula  sunt  ne- 
cessaria. 


234  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEGUE. 

XXXn.  [270]  Haw  yolk  of  egg  is  prepared, — Orpiment  is 
ground  and  prepared  with  the  yolk  of  egg  in  the  following 
manner,  and  the  yolk  of  e^  is  thus  prepared : — ^Take  the  yolk 
in  the  middle  of  your  hand,  and  prick  it  with  a  thorn  or  a  needle, 
and,  putting  your  finger  upon  it,  press  it  out,  and  receive  it  in 
a  vase ;  and,  adding  a  drop  of  water  to  it,  mix  it  with  tibe  orpi- 
ment. If  you  mix  oil  with  it,  it  will  never  dry.  Mix  it  there- 
fore with  yolk  of  egg. 

XXXIII.  [258]  How  Cordovan  leather  u  dyed.— Take  the 
leather  which  is  called  *^  Cordovan,"  not  dyed  with  colour,  but 
pure  and  white,  and  wash  over  tibe  side  on  which  the  hairs  grew 
with  alum.  Then  take  madder,  and  heat  it  over  the  fire  in  a 
brass  vessel  with  wine  or  with  water,  so  that  you  can  just  bear 
your  finger  in  it.  Then  dip  the  aforesaid  leather  into  the 
vessel,  and  take  it  out ;  see  if  the  colour  is  sufficiently  deep ;  if 
it  is,  well  and  good  ;  if  not,  dip  it  in  again.  Then  spread  it 
out  on  a  smooth  table,  burnish  it  with  a  piece  of  box-wood ; 
and  then  take  fat,  and  grease  the  skin  all  over,  and  sutkr  it 
to  dry. 

XXXIV.  [277]  How  to  make  use  of  brasUium. — ^Take  a 
brass  dish,  and  scrape  as  much  braedlium  into  it  as  you  may 
think  necessary ;  then  fill  it  up  with  urine ;  add  powdered  alum 
to  it,  and  so  let  it  remain  for  a  night.  The  next  day  set  it  upon 
the  coals,  make  it  boil  up  once  or  twice ;  remove  the  dish  from 
the  fire,  and  put  a  little  quick-lime  with  the  brasilium  and 
alum  and  stir  it  up,  and  so  let  it  stand  till  it  settles  thick,  and 
the  water  floats  on  the  top  ;  then  throw  away  the  water,  and  let 
the  remainder  dry  in  the  sun,  and  keep  it  as  long  as  you  like. 
You  may  use  this  colour  both  on  wood  and  on  walls ;  but  with 
greater  brilliancy  on  parchment. 

XXXV.  [289]  To  make  a  rose-colour  with  braxilium. — To 
make  rose-colour,  add  urine  to  the  braxilium  before  you  put 
the  alum  ;  and  this  is  the  way  it  is  to  be  done. 

XXXVI.  [288]  How  ceruse  is  madcj  and  how  red  minium  is 
made  from  that. — ^If  you  wish  to  make  red  minium,  or  the  white 
which  is  called  cerusci  take  lead  plates,  and  put  them  into  a 


ERAdJUS  BE  C0L0RIBI7S  £T  AKTIBUS  ROBiANORUM.  235 

XXXn.  [270]  Quomodo  vitellum  ovi  paratur. — ^Auripig- 
mentum  cum  vitello  ovi  molitur  et  distemperatur  sic,  et  vitellus 
hoc  modo  paratur.  Sume  Yitellum  in  media  manu,  et  spmige 
vel  spina  vel  stila,  et  digito  superpomto,  exprime,  et  in  vase 
recipe,  mittens  guttam  aque  ex  auripigmento  misce.  Si  autem 
oleum  miscueris,  nmiquam  siccabitur.     Ideo  misce  cum  Titello. 


XXXm.  [258]  Quomodo  corduanum  tingitur. — ^Accipe  co- 
riom,  quem  corduanum  vocant,  nondum  coloribus  tinctum,  sed 
purum  et  album,  illamque  partem,  quae  prius  pilis  tegebatur,  de 
alumine  ablues.  Acdpiesque  Waranciam,  et  ad  ignem  in  vase 
flereo  cale£Gicies  cum  vino,  vel  cum  aqua,  et  tantum  ut  digitum 
tnum  in  ea  mittere  possis,  et  tunc  corium  antedictum  in  vase 
merges  et  trabes,  yidebisque ;  A  fuerit  rubeum,  bene  quidem ; 
n  non,  iterum  merge,  dimittesque  siccare ;  postea  super  tabu- 
lam  planam  extendes,  et  cum  baculo  buxeo  bumies ;  deinde 
adipem  acdpies,  et  pellem  per  totum  inunges,  sicque  siccare 
permittes. 

XXXIV.*  [277]  Quomodo poieris  de  bresilio  operari. — Accipe 
patellam  aeream,  et  brasilium  intus  rade,  quantum  tibi  visum 
fuerit  Postea  imple  eam  urina,  pulveriza  desuper  alumen,  et 
sic  una  nocte  dimittes.  In  crastino  super  carbones  mitte,  unam 
aut  duas  undias  bullire  facies,  et  retrahe  ab  igne  patellam,  et 
pone  parumper  de  viva  calce  cum  brisillio  et  alumen,  et  in« 
simul  move,  et  ita  dimittas ;  dum  spissum  fuerit,  et  aqua  de* 
super  nataverit,  projice  foras,  et  reliquum  ad  solem  permitte 
siccum  fieri,  et  serva  quantum  volueris.  De  hoc  colore  m 
ligno  et  in  muro  operari  poteris,  mirabilius  tamen  in  perga* 
menis. 

XXXV.  [289]  Quomodo  rosa  color  ft  de  ligno  braxilliu — • 
Rosam  fadendo,  urinam  pones  cum  brixillio  priusquam  pones 
alumen,  et  sic  faciendum. 

XXXVI.  [288]  Quomodo  fit  cerusa^  et  de  ipsa  rubeum  minium. 
— Si  vis  iacere  rubeum  minium,  vel  etiam  album,  qui  cerusa 
dicitur,  accipe  laminas  plumbeas,  et  mitte  in  oUam  novam,  et 


236  MANUSCmPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEQUE. 

new  jar,  and  so  fill  the  jar  with  very  strong  ymegar,  and  cover  it 
up  and  set  it  in  some  warm  place,  and  leave  it  so  for  a  month. 
Then  open  the  jar,  and  put  what  you  find  adhering  to  the  sfipa 
of  lead  into  another  jar,  and  place  it  upon  the  fire,  and  keep 
stirring  up  the  colour  until  it  becomes  as  white  as  snow.  Then 
remove  it  firom  the  fire,  and  take  as  much  as  you  like  of  that 
colour,  which  is  called  ceruse.  Put  the  rest  back  over  the 
fire,  and  keep  stirring  it  until  it  becomes  red  minium*  I  re* 
commend  you  to  continue  stirring  it,  because,  if  it  is  not  stirred, 
it  turns  back  again  to  white  lead.  Then  take  it  from  the  fire 
and  let  the  jar  cool. 

XXXVn.  [265]  Him  terre  verte  is  distempered. — ^Take 
maUow,  and  distemper  it  with  vinegar  or  with  very  good  wine, 
and  with  this  juice  distemper  the  terre-verte,  and  it  will  be  a 
good  colour  for  walls. 

XXXVni.  [273]  How  to  make  a  green  cohmrfrom  salt. — ^I 
have  often  mentioned  a  green  colour,  and  now  I  will  tell  you  how 
I  make  it  I  take  a  piece  of  oak,  of  whatever  length  and  breadth 
I  please,  and  scoop  it  out  into  the  shape  of  a  scrinium.  I  then 
take  copper,  and  cause  it  to  be  hammered  out  into  plates  as 
long  as  I  choose ;  tiiat  is,  so  that  their  length  may  cover  the 
breadth  of  the  hollow  wood.  Afterwards  I  take  a  ladleful  of 
salt,  and  pressing  it  strongly  down,  I  put  it  into  the  fire  for  a 
night,  and  cover  it  up  with  coals ;  and  the  next  day  grind  it 
very  carefully  upon  a  dry  stone.  I  then  take  small  twigs,  and 
place  them  in  the  aforesaid  wood,  so  that  two  parts  of  the 
hollow  wood  may  be  underneath  and  the  third  above.  Then 
smearing  the  copper-plates  on  both  sides  with  honey,  I  sprinkle 
the  salt  all  over  the  honey,  then  shake  the  plates  over  the  ladle 
to  avoid  waste,  and  then  place  the  plates  upon  the  twigs.  I 
next  cover  up  the  hollow  wood  with  aiftother  piece  made  for  this 
purpose,  and  lute  it  all  round  with  clay  weU  mixed  with  asses'- 
dung.  But  before  I  cover  up  the  hollow  wood,  I  pour  into  it 
hot  vin^ar  or  hot  urine,  so  as  to  fill  one-third  part  of  it,  and 
then  cover  it  up,  and  afterwards  do  as  before  directed  with  this 
colour. 


ERACLITJS  BE  COLORIBUS  £T  ABTIBUS  ROMANORUM.  237 

«c  imple  illam  ollam  fortissimo  aceto^  et  coopeii,  et  mitte  in 
aliquo  calido  loco,  et  sic  uno  mense  dindtte ;  et  tunc  aperies 
oUam,  et  quod  iuTeneris  in  circuitu  laminarum  plumbearum 
mitte  in  aliam  oUam,  et  pone  super  ignem,  et  semper  movebis 
ipeum  colorem,  donee  effidatur  albus  sicut  nix,  et  tunc  toUes 
ab  igne,  et  sumes  de  ipso  colore  quantum  vis,  et  iste  color 
▼ocatur  cerusa ;  reliquam  partem  pone  super  ignem,  et  semper 
movebis  donee  efficiatur  rubeum  minium.  Propterea  moneo  ut 
moYcaSy  quod  si  non  moveris,  semper  iterum  vertetur  in  album 
plumbum,  et  sic  toUe  ab  igne,  et  ipsam  ollam  dimitte  refnge- 
rari. 

XXXVII.  [265]  Qu(nnodo  dist€nq)eratur  viride  terrenum. — 
Accipe  malvam,  et  distempera  cum  aceto,  yel  optimo  vino,  et 
de  isto  jussu  terrenum  viridem  distempera,  et  erit  boni  colons 
in  muro. 

XXXVin.  [273]  Q^omodo  efficUur  virtdis  color  cum  sah. — • 
Saepe  tractavi  de  viridi  colore,  quali  mode  efficiatur.  Nunc  vero 
quomodo  id  ipsum  facio  narrabo.  Lignum  quercinum  sumo 
quants  latitudinis  et  longitudinis  voluero,  et  iUud  in  modum 
scrinii  cavo ;  deinde  cuprum  accipio,  et  fado  illud  attenuari  in 
laminas  tam  longas  quantum  mihi  placet,  scilicet  ut  lon^tudo 
ejus  operiat  latitudinem  concavi  ligni.  Posthoc  accipio  scutellam 
plenam  salis,  et,  comprimens  eum  fortiter,  mitto  in  ignem  per 
noctem,  et  cooperio  carbonibus,  et  in  crastinum  super  lapidem 
molo  diligentissime  siccum.  Postea  acdpio  surculas  gradles, 
ooUoco  eas  in  predictum  lignum,  tamen  ita  ut  duae  partes  ligni 
cari  sint  inferius,  et  tertia  superius,  sicque  liniens  laminas 
cupreas  utraque  parte  melle,  et  desuper  mel  sal  aspergens  per 
totum,  moxque  excutio  laminas  in  scutellam,  ne  pereat,  sicque 
super  surculas  illas  laminas  pono.  Tunc  lignum  concavum 
altero  ligno  adhuc  aptato  cooperio,  et  in  circuitu  totum  argilla 
bene  fimo  asini  mixto  linio.  Antequam  autem  lignum  illud 
concavum  cooperuerim,  ponam  intus  vel  acetum  calidum,  vel 
urinam  calidam,  ita  ut  tertia  pars  impleatur,  et  mox  cooperio ; 
tunc  deinceps  £Bicio  quod  de  hoc  colore  suprascriptum  eat 


238  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BBGTTE. 

XXXIX.  [287]  A  manner  of  making  green  with  capper  or 
brass. — Fill  a  basin  with  wbite  wine  vinegar,  and  put  into  it 
strips  of  copper,  and  throw  into  it  any  other  copper  that  yon  can 
procure ;  let  it  remain  there  for  the  space  of  one,  two,  or  three 
months,  and  you  will  then  find  an  excellent  green  colour. 

XL.  [261]  How  orpiment  is  prepared  for  use^ — Crush  the 
orpiment  in  leather,  and  afterwards  grind  it  with  water  upon 
marble,  adding  to  it  a  little  calcined  bone,  and  so  let  it  dry 
there.  Distemper  it  afterwards  with  egg  for  painting  on  wood, 
or  on  walls ;  but  on  paper,  distemper  it  like  ceruse.  If  it  is  not 
good,  mix  ochre  with  it,  and  then  it  will  do. 

XLI.  [264]  How  to  lay  on  gold^—^Take  ochre  and  distem- 
per it  with  water,  and  let  it  dry.  In  the  mean  while  make  g^ue 
with  vellum,  and  afterwards  whip  some  white  of  egg.  Then  mix 
the  glue  and  the  white  of  egg,  and  grind  the  ochre  (wluch  will 
by  this  time  be  well  dried)  strongly  upon  a  marble  slab,  and,  as 
soon  as  the  ochre  i&  dry,  lay  it  on  the  parchment  with  a  paint- 
brush, wherever  you  wish  to  lay  the  gold  on  the  parchment,  and 
then  apply  the  gold,  and  let  it  remain  so  without  pressing  it  with 
the  stone.  When  it  is  dry  burnish  it  well  with  a  tooth.  This 
is  what  I  learned  by  experiment,  and  have  frequently  proved, 
and  you  may  safely  believe  that  I  have  told  you  the  truth. 

XLII.  [278]  How  to  gild  on  parchment? — ^Take  gypsum  and 
white  of  Apulia,  and  carminium,*  that  is  to  say,  cinnabar, 
namely,  one  third  part  of  gypsum,  and  two  equal  parts  of  white 
and  of  carminium.  Mix  them  well,  and  grind  them  on  a  marble 
slab,  and  add  to  them  only  a  little  thin  glue ;  and  with  this 
mordant  you  may  lay  on  gold  wherever  you  like,  and  you  may 
keep  it  a  long  time. 

'  See  Sloane  MS.  No.  1754.  «  Ibid. 

'  Carminium  is  here  represented  to  be  sjmonynious  with  Cinnabar ;  bot 
at  p.  252  it  is  said  to  be  composed  of  white  and  ochre. 


EKACLIUS  BE  COLOKIBUS  £T  ARTIBUS  ROMANOBUM.  239 

XXXIX.  [287]  Modus  faciendi  viridem  cupri  vel  tBris. — 
Imple  pelyim  de  aceto  albo  vini,  et  quioquid  cupri  poteris 
habere,  projice  intus,  et  sic  stare  permittes  per  spatium  unius 
mensis  vel  duonim  vel  trium,  et  postea  optimum  viridem  pro- 
creatum  invemes. 

XL.  [261]  Quamodo  auripigmentum  prceparatur  ad  operant 
dum. — Auripigmentum  confringe  in  corio,  postea  tere  cum  aqua 
super  marmorem,  addens  ei.  parum  ossis  combusti,  et  ibidem 
siccare  permitte.  Postea  distempera  cum  ovo  ad  ponendum  in 
ligno  vel  in  muro,  sed  in  carta  pone  sicut  cerosium.  Si  non  est 
bonum,  misce  ocrum$  postea  valet 

XLI.  [264]  Qumnodo  ponitur  aurum} — Accipe  ocrum,  et 
distempera  cum  aqua,  sicque  dimittes  siccare.  Interim  de  per- 
gameno  *  vitulino  colam  facies.  Postea  glaream  de  oyo  facies. 
Tunc  colam  et  glaream  iusimul  misces,  et  ocrum  jam '  bene 
siccatum^  fortiter  super  marmorem  teres,  et  ubivoluerisponere 
aurum  in  pergameno,  statim  ut  molitum  fiierit  ocrum,  super 
pergamenum  cum  ^  pincello  trahes,  sicque  aiuoun  desuper  illico 
pones,  dimittesque  siccare  ^  ita  sine  impressione  cotL^  Postea, 
cum  siccatum  fuerit,^  cum  dente  fortiter  bumies.*  £cce  ut 
saepe  experimento  didici,  multociens  probavi,  et  tua  certa  fide 
verum  dixi. 

XLn.  [278]  Quamodo  aurum  in  pergamenis  ponitur}^ — 
Accipe  gipsum,  et  album  de  PuUia^^  et  carminium,  L  e.  dno- 
brium,"  tertiam  partem  de  gipso,  et  de  albo,  et^'  de  carminio*^ 
duas  partes  equales,  et  misce  simul,  et  tere  super  marmorem, 
adjungesque  eis^  modicum  coUe,  tenue  tamen,^'  et  de  hac 
distemperatura  poteris  aurum  ubicunque  volueris  ponere,  et 
multum^^  diu  servare. 

*  Sic  P. ;  De  temperamento  auri  S.  No.  63.  '  Percameno  passim  S. 
'  Jam  omittit  S.    *  Teres  hie  inserit  et  post  omittit  P.    *  Percameno  iUo  S. 

*  Siccare  omittit  P.      ^  Et  supplet  S.      "  Cum  siccatum  Juerit  omittit  S. 

*  Qus  sequuntur  omittit  S.  *^  Sic  P.  Item  de  distemperatura  auri  S. 
'>  Apideya  S.  No.  64.  »  Carommium  id  est  smMum  S.  »  Quod  P. 
>«  Carominio  S.    ^  Cum  its  S.    *«  Ihntum  P.     >'  Muitum  omittit  S. 


240  MANUSCRlPrS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

XLIIL  [279]  How  to  write  with  gold}— Take  a  glass  rase 
and  fill  it  with  urine,  and  let  it  rest  until  it  appears  dear. 
Then  take  the  white  of  an  egg  well  whipped,  and  divide  it  into 
two  parts,  and  mix  it  with  the  urine,  and  stir  them  both  toge- 
ther, and  put  them  into  a  horn  with  gold  diasolyed,  that  is, 
ground,  and  then  washed.  You  may  write  with  this  gold  as 
with  any  other  colour. 

XLIY.  [274]  Of  auripetrum. — Secundum  Ma^trum  IL 
Take  oil  made  from  linseed,  and  put  it  into  a  new  jar,  and  take 
the  bark  of  ^'vesprum''  very  well  dried  and  well  ground  in  a 
mortar,  and  let  it  lie  for  a  night  in  the  oil.  The  next  day  boil 
it  as  long  as  you  may  think  proper,  but  not  much,  and  then  pass 
it  through  a  cloth  iato  another  jar,  and  boil  it  again  a  little  over 
the  fire  with  myrrh  and  aloes.  Strain  it  again,  and  immediately 
put  vemix  with  it,  and  heat  it  upon  the  coals.  But  if  you  have 
no  vemixj  take  glassa^  and  put  it  with  the  aloes  and  myrrh  in- 
stead of  vemiXf  and,  as  I  said  before,  strain  it  again.  If  yoa 
have  not  the  bark  of  vesprum  take  dry  incatutunij  or  else  the 
bark  of  black-thorn  dried  and  ground,  and,  as  I  said  before, 
boil  it  with  the  myrrh  and  aloes,  and  afterwards  remove  it  from 
the  fire,  and  when  it  is  cold,  put  it  away  in  a  vase  to  preserve 
as  long  as  you  like.  You  must  collect  the  bark  in  March  or 
April,  and  dry  it  in  May,  and  keep  it  as  long  as  you  like. 

XLV.  [275]  How  to  gild  upon  tin. — ^Take  tin  and  place 
it  on  a  tablet  well  whitened  for  this  purpose,  and  well  dried. 
Hammer  the  tin  out  well,  and  polish  it  with  water  and  fliut, 
rubbing  it  both  along  and  across.  Then  take  a  polished  iron 
made  for  this  purpose,  and  polish  it  again  with  water.  When 
it  is  very  bright,  let  it  dry,  and  then  take  it  again  and  lay 
it  on  a  table  and  burnish  it  with  flint  And  you  may 
work  with  this  gold  on  wood  or  on  walls,  and  wherever  you 
wish  to  gild. 

*  See  Sloane  MS.  No.  1754. 


EUACLroS  DE  COLORIBUS  ET  ARTIBUS  ROMANORUM.   241 

XLin.  [279]  Qucmodo  scribitur  de  auro.^ — Sume  tibi  vas 
▼itreain,  et  iirina  tua  illud  imple ;  sicque,  donee  appareat  clara, 
requiescat ;  postea  accipe  glaream  ovi  optime  fractam,*  et  fac 
duas  partes,  miscesque  cum  urina,  et  movebis  utrumque  '  insi- 
muly  et  pone  in  coma  cum  auro  soluto  [ue.  molito  et  postea  la- 
yato  ^],  itaque  ^  poteris  de  tali  *  auro  scribere  sicut  de  alio  colore. 

XLIV.  [274]  De  auro  petro. — Secundum  magistrum  R. 
Accipe  oleum  de  lini  semine  factum,  et  pone  in  ollam  novam. 
Accipiesquecorticemdevespro  optime  siccatam,  et  in  mortario 
bene  tritam,  et  in  oleo  earn  unam  noctem  jacere  permittes.  In 
crastino  ad  ignem  bullies;  quando  satis  tibi  visum fuerit,  tamen 
non  multum,  protinus  per  medium  pannum  in  aliam  ollam  tran- 
sire  facies,  deinde  iterum  ad  ignem  cum  mirra  et  aloe  parum- 
per  bullies.  Iterum  colabis,  statimque  vemix  cum  eis  pones,  et 
super  carbones  calefacies.  Si  autem  yemix  non  habueris,  acci- 
pies  glassam,  et  pones  cum  aloe  et  mirra  pro  vemix,  et,  ut  dixi, 
iterum  colabis.  Si  autem  corticem  de  yespro  non  habueris, 
accipe  incaustum  siccum,  vel  etiam  corticem  de  nigi*a  spina 
siccatam  et  tritam,  et,  sicut  supra  scripsi,  cum  mirra  et  aloe 
bullies,  post  hoc  retrahes  ab  igne,  et,  cum  frigidum  fuerit,  ad 
senrandum  in  vase,  quanto  tempore  yolueris,  repone.  Cortices 
autem  in  Martio  yel  in  Aprili  accipies,  et  in  Majo  siccabis,  et 
servabis  quamdiu  volueris. 

XLV.  [275]  Q^omodoponituraurum  super  itagnnm, — ^Accipe 
stagnum,  et  pone  super  tabulam  ad  hoc  opus  optime  dealbatam, 
et  bene  siccatam,  extende,  et  cum  silica  et  aqua  in  longitudinem 
et  latitudinem  poli ;  deinde  sume  ferrum  totum  aceratum,  ad 
hoc  opus  factum,  et  iterum  cum  aqua  poli.  Cum  multum  et 
stans  fuerit,  sic  siccare  dimittes ;  postea  accipies  iterum,  et  super 
tabulam  pones,  et  cum  silice  bumies  eum.  Poterisque  de  hoc 
auro  in  ligno  yel  in  muro  operari,  et  ubi  yolueris  ponere. 


>  De  omittit  S.  No.  66.     ■  Factam  S.     •  Utrumque  omittit  S.    *  Ex  P. 
Omitdt  S.    *  A  S.    •  Tali  omittit  S. 

VOL.  I.  R 


242  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  13  BEGTTB. 

XL VI.  [246]  How  bonu^  is  distempered  and  kept. — Take 
bean-ashes,  and  strain  them  through  a  doth  into  a  jar  three  or 
four  times,  and  afterwards  boil  them  [with  water]  over  the  fire 
unt'^  the  ley  is  thick  like  ink,  and  then  take  the  liquor  which 
is  called  borax,  and  grind  it  in  a  vase  or  cup  like  cummin  or 
pepper,  and  then  mix  it  with  the  aforesaid  ley.  Then  make  it 
boil  again,  and  keep  stirring  it,  and  then  remove  it  from  the  fire, 
and  put  it  into  a  leaden  vase,  and  you  may  keep  it  as  long  as 
you  like. 

XLVn,  [247]  Abo  on  the  same  subject  in  another  manner. — 
Also,  take  the  same  ley,  fresh  made,  and  mix  it  with  a  little 
borax  previously  well  ground  in  a  shell,  and  then  take  copper 
reduced  to  powder  of  the  weight  of  12  denarii,  ( f-r-i  X  ^^  grind 
it  well  in  a  shell,  like  pepper,  and  mix  it  with  the  ley  and  borax* 
and  boil  it  over  the  fire,  and  afterwards  let  it  cool,  and  put  it 
into  a  copper  vase,  and  preserve  it  as  long  as  any  remains. 

XLVIII.  [248]  How  to  make  niffellum. — When  you  wish  to 
make  nigellum,  take  quicksilver,  and  copper,  and  lead,  in  equal 
quantities  by  measure,  and  put  them  into  a  shell  to  fuse 
together.  Then  take  6  denarii  by  weight  of  sulphur,  and  mix 
with  the  other  ingredients,  and  stir  them  well.  Then  remove 
the  mixture  from  the  fire,  and  let  it  cool,  and  put  it  into  a 
vase ;  then  take  atramentum  distempered  with  wine,  and  draw 
what  you  like  upon  the  silver  with  the  atramentum,  and  imme- 
diately lay  the  powder  made  of  the  quicksilver,  copper,  and 
lead  upon  it  [and  heat  it]  until  it  melts,  and  it  will  make  a 
beautiful  nigelliun. 

XLIX.  [272]  How  to  paint  upon  glass. — ^I  must  tell  you  how 
to  punt  upon  glass.  Take  a  grossmum  of  sapphire,  and  the 
scales  which  are  beaten  off  red-hot  iron  upon  the  blacksmith's 
anvil ;  and  you  must  put  one-third  part  of  this  with  the  groesi- 

^  I  have  no  doabt  that  *'  Bures  "  should  be  read  ''  Borax/*  and  I  refer 
to  the  note  on  this  subject  in  the  Table  of  Synoaymes.  It  will  be  obaerved 
that  the  Bures  of  the  text  is  said  to  be  a  liquor ;  it  is  unnecessary  to  remark 
that  this  is  scarcely  consistent  with  the  direction  to  "  grind  it  like  cummin  or 


ERACLIUS  DE  COLOKIBUS  £T  ARXIBUS  ROMANORUM.  243 

XLVL  [246]  Quomodo  disiemperatur  bures  et  servatur. — Ac- 
cipe  cinerem  fabarum,  et  cola  per  pannum  in  ollam  tribus  vicibus 
ant  qnatnor,  postea  ad  ignem  buUire  facies  donee  spissum  sit 
quasi  incanstum ;  deinde  accipiaa  ilium  liquorem  qui  vocatur 
bures,  et  teres  in  Tase  vel  cipho  quasi  caminum  vel  piper ;  tunc 
miflces  cum  laxiva  suprascripta,  iterumque  bullire  facies,  sem- 
perque  movebis.  Postea  tolle  ab  igne,  et  in  plumbeo  vase 
pone,  et  poteris  servare  quamdiu  volueris. 

XLVIL  [247]  Item  de  eodem  aliter, — Item  accipe  eandem 
laxivam  cum  nuper  fuerit  factA,  et  misces  cum  ea  parum  de 
bures  bene  in  conca  prius  maceratum ;  deinde  accipies  pulve- 
rem  de  cupro  &ctam  pensantem  xii*^*"  denarios,  et  maoerabis 
fortiter  in  conca  velut  piperi  et  cum  lexiva  bures  misces,  et  ad 
ignem  bullire  &cies.  Postea  sine  refiigerari  et  in  vase  cupreo 
mitte,  et  serra  quantum  durayerit. 

XLVIIL  [248]  Quail  modoniffellum  facies. — Quando  volu- 
eris nigellum  facere,  accipe  de  argento  vivo,  et  de  cupro,  et 
plumbo,  equali  mensura,  et  mitte  in  conca,  ut  simul  coquantur. 
Tunc  accipe  sulphuris  pondus  vj  denariorum,  et  cum  eis  misces, 
et  movebis.  Postea  retrahe  ab  igne^  et  sine  refngerari,  in  vase 
pone ;  deinde  accipe  attramentum  cum  vino  distemperatum,  et 
facies  quod  volueris  super  argentum  de  attramento,  statimque 
pulverem  de  argento  vivo  et  cupro  et  plumbo  superpones,  donee 
fundatur,  fietque  pulcrum  nigellum. 


XLIX.  [272]  Quomodo  pingitur  in  vitro. — ^Dicendum  quo- 
modo  pingere  debes  in  vitro.  Accipe  groasinum  de  sapfairo,  et 
palleam,  quae  excutitur  de  calido  ferro  super  incudem  fabri,  cum 
grossino  tertiam  partem  pones,  et  plumbeum  vitrum,  Judeum 


pepper."  A  similar  direction  is  repeated  in  the  following  recipe.  I  con- 
sider that  in  both  cases  the  Borax  was  prepared  as  afliut  for  the  nigolliun  in 
No.  zWiii. 


r2 


244  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUR 

num,  and  mix  it  with  lead  glass,  that  is,  Jewish  glass,'  and 
grind  it  well  on  an  iron  slab,  and  so  you  will  be  able  to  paint. 

L.  [240]  On  the  various  kinds  and  names  of  the  principal 
and  intermediate  colours.  And  on  the  advantage  of  mixing  them 
together ;  and  on  the  places  in  which  they  are  founds  and  are 
prodtLced,  or  exists  and  on  the  means  of  knowinff  the  goodness  of 
them, — Of  colours,  some  are  white,  and  some  are  black,  and 
some  are  intermediate.  And  the  species  of  white  are  ceruse, 
lime,  and  alumen.  The  blacks  are  fuscus  and  those  which  are 
made  from  twigs.  The  intermediate  colours  are  red,  green, 
yellow,  purple,  prasinus,  azure,  and  Incicus  [Indigo  ?],  which 
are  each  of  them,  in  themselves,  beautiful ;  but  are  more  so 
when  mixed,  because,  by  their  variety,  they  give  beauty  to  one 
another.  And  then,  in  composition  they  have  a  difierent  hue, 
for  as  in  medicinal  preparations  the  various  drugs  mixed  to- 
gether modify  each  other ;  so  colours  of  different  kinds  are 
mixed  together,  in  order  that  they  may  partake  of  the  nature 
of  the  others  as  well  as  of  their  own,  and  make  as  many,  and 
beautiful,  and  pleasing,  varieties  as  possible. 

In  this  mixture,  and  in  the  order  in  which  one  is  laid  over 
another  in  painting,  great  skill  is  exercised.  For  after  white, 
black  or  red  should  be  put  as  an  intermediate,  hecause  yellow, 
in  composition,  is  in  the  second  degree  of  mediocrity,  for  a 
colour  too  thick  or  too  thin,  soon  alters. 

Reds  are  produced  in  many  places,  but  the  best  are  found 
in  Pontus  and  Spain.*  ^^  Paratonium " '  is  named  from  the 
place  where  it  is  dug.  In  the  same  manner,  also,  **  Meline 
earth,"  a  kind  of  metal,  is  found  in  some  of  the  Cyclades,  and 
receives  its  name  from  it     Green  earth  *  is  found  in  many 

^  In  an  extract  published  by  Mr.  Hendrie  from  a  copy  of  the  MS. 
of  Le  Begue,  ^'judicatim  scilicet"  is  inserted  instead  of  **  Judettm 
scilicet.**  So  little  is  known  of  the  history  of  glass-making,  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  say  whether  the  glass  mentioned  in  the  text  resembled  in  ingf 
respect  the  '*  Jews*  gla$s,"  which  used  to  be  sold  at  Birmingham. — (See  a 
paper  in  the  *  Philosophical  Magazine*  for  Dec.  1836.)  The  latter  waa  a 
ruby-coloured  glass,  coloured  with  gold ;  but  as  Bulengerus  says  (*  De  Pic- 
tura,'  &c.  lib.  ii.  cap.  v.),  "  Sine  plumbo  nullum  metallum  in  vitnim  transire 


ERACUUS  DB  COLORIBUS  £T  ARTIBUS  KOMANORUM.   245 

scilicety  misces,  et  super  marmorem  fortiter  teres,  sicque  pingere 
potes. 

L.  [240]  De  diversis  colorum  principalium  et  intermediorum 
specidms  et  twrninihus  et  de  utilitate  mixtianis  eorum  ad  irmcem^ 
et  de  lods  in  quibus  inveniuntur^  et  nascuntury  vel  suntj  et  de  cogni" 
done  perfectionis  eorum, — Colorum  alii  sunt  aibi,  alii  nigri,  alii 
sunt  medii.  £t  albi  quidem  species,  cerusa,  calx,  alumen.  Nigri 
vero,  fiiscus,  et  qui  ex  sarmentis  componitur.  Medii,  rubeus, 
viridis,  croceus,  purpureus,  prasinus,  azur,  et  incicus ;  quorum 
expressio  per  se  cujuslibet  pulcra  est,  sed  interdum  sic  invicem 
permixti  pulcriores  fiunt,  quia  sua  varietate  graciam  alter  alteri 
praestant :  Dein  compositi  aliud  monstrant,  nam  ut  in  medicinae 
confectionibus  species  sibi  permixtse  invicem  conferuut,  sic 
colores  non  ejusdem  qualitatis,  ut  partem  ex  alterius  natura, 
partem  ex  sua  trahant,  et  quam  plurimas  eorum  varietates 
pulcras  et  delectabiles  reddant,  simul  commiscentur.  In  qua 
oommixtione,  et  in  eo  modo  quo  in  pictura  alter  alteri  post  se 
ponuntur,  summa  est  subtilitas ;  siquidem  post  album,  niger, 
aut  rubeus  medius,  convenit ;  quoniam  crocus,  in  temperacione, 
mediocritas  secunda  est,  quia  color  nimium  spissus,  et  nimium 
tenuis,  cito  deficit. 

Rubi  itaque  multis  locis  generantur,  sed  optimi  Ponto,  €t  in 
Hispania,  nascuntur.  Paratonium  ex  ipso  loco  unde  foditur 
babet  nomen.  Eadem  racione  et  melinus  quidem,  metalli 
species,  per  insulas  Cycladis,  inde  dicitur.  Creta  viridis  plu- 
ribus  locis  nascitur,  sed  optima  in  Creta  Cirina,  quae  Greece 
dicitur  Theodote  quaedam,  in  cujus  solo  primum  est  inventa. 
Arzicon,  id  est,  auripiginentum,  in  Ponto  nascitur.    Sandaraca 

potest/'  it  18  not  improbable  that  glass  coloured  with  gold  was  composed 
partly  of  lead  ;  aad  if,  as  appears  from  the  text,  lead  glass  was  called  "  Jewish 
glass/'  this  may  sufficiently  account  for  the  appellation  given  to  the  glass 
made  at  Birmingham. 

■  Sec  Vitruvius,  lib,  vii.  cap.  vii, 

*  Paratonium  and  Meline  earth,  or  Melino,  are  both  white  minerals. 

^  The  author  of  the  French  Commentary  on  Pliny,  published  at  London 
in  1725,  observes  that  Isidore  mentions  green  earth,  which  he  calls  **  Pra- 
sinus." 


246  MANUSCBIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGXJE. 

places,  but  the  best  in  **  creta  cirina,"  which  in  Greek  is  called 
Theodote,^  in  which  territory  it  was  first  found.  "  Arzicon,"  * 
that  is,  orpiment,  is  found  in  Pontus.  ^^  Sandaraca '' '  is  found 
in  many  places,  but  the  best  is  found  in  Pontus,  and  by  the 
river  Ysparis.^  Azure  is  mentioned  as  having  been  first  found 
in  the  Ephesian  territory  and  afterwards  in  Spain,  and  with  it 
are  connected  the  following  inventions.^ 

LI.  [241]  On  trying  azure, — ^Now  azure  must  be  tried  in  the 
following  manner :  Put  it  on  an  iron  plate,  and  hold  it  over  the 
fire  until  it  is  red-hot.  Then  take  it  out  and  let  it  cooL  If  it 
does  not  change  colour,  it  will  be  good ;  but  if  it  does  change 
colour,  it  is  adulterated. 

When  ice,'  therefore,  is  first  cut  off  metals,  drops  of  quidc- 
silver  are  pressed  out,  which  artificers  collect  for  various  pur- 
poses, for  neither  silver  nor  brass  can  be  gilt  without  it  When 
the  drops  of  quicksilver  are  run  together,  so  as  to  fill  a  measure 
of  4  sextarii,  they  will  weigh  one  hundred  pounds.  If  upon 
this  liquor  you  place  a  stone  weighing  a  hundred  pounds, 
it  will  float  on  it.  If  you  put  a  scruple  into  this  liquor,  it  will 
sink,  whence  you  may  see  that  the  difference  does  not  conast 
in  the  weight  of  the  substance  but  in  the  nature  of  it  Also,  if 
the  goldsmith  wish  to  obtain  the  gold  firom  the  tinder  of  burnt 
frieze,  let  him  wash  it,  and  mix  it  with  quicksilver,  and  then 
press  it  in  a  linen  or  cotton  cloth,  so  that  the  quicksilver  may 
be  expressed,  and  the  gold  remain. 

>  Vitruviua  says  it  was  called  ''  Theodotion/*  because  the  name  of  the 
owner  of  the  estate  where  it  was  found  was  Theodotus. 

'  The  word  Arzicon  appears  to  be  a  corniptioD  of  '^  Arsenicon/'  the 
Greek  name  for  Orpiment. 

*  The  term  '*  Sandaraca "  is  applied  to  red  orpiment  and  also  to  red 
lead  ;  both  are  occasionally  found  native. 

^  Hypanis,  according  to  VitruTius. 

*  A  native  mineral  azure  is  here  described,  which  appears,  from  the  test 
mentioned  in  the  next  chapter,  to  be  Lapis  Lazuli.  The  author  of  this  work 
appears  to  have  been  unacquainted  with  the  azure  described  by  Vitmrius, 
which  consisted  of  a  blue  glass  formed  of  nitre,  sand,  and  copper  filings. 

*  This  obscure  passage  appears  to  be  an  abridgment  of  cap.  viii.  of  the 
7th  book  of  Yitruvius.    The  original  MS.  may  have  been  imperfect,  or 


ERACLIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  ET  ABTIBUS  ROMANORUM.   247 

pluribds  locis  generatur,  sed  optima  in  Ponto  et  juxta  flumen 
Ysparim.  Azurii  autem  natura,  primum  Ephesiorum  solo 
reperta,  memoratur  deincepe  in  Hispania,  cujus  natura  has 
mvenciones  habet 


11.  [241]  De  probatiane  azurii. — Yemm  probacio  azurii  sic 
erit  obsenranda.  In  lamina  ferrea  mittatur,  et  super  ignem 
ponatur,  tamdiu  donee  lamina  rubescat  Tunc  retrahatur  ut 
refirigescat  Si  colorem  non  mutaverit^  optimum  erit ;  si  autem 
mutaverit,  viciatum  erit 

Glades  itaque,  yel  glaciens,  cum  ex  metallis  primum  exci- 
duntur,  argenti  vivi  guttas  exprimunt,  quas  artifices  ad  plures 
Qsus  coUigunt  Neque  enim  argentum,  neque  ses,  sine  hiis 
inaurari  possunt  Nam  confuse  in  unum  guttae  argenti  vivi, 
ita  ut  quatuor  sextariorum  mensuram  habeant,  centum  libras 
pondus  eflBdunt.  Supra  cujus  liquorem  centenarium  saxi 
pondus  si  posueris,  sustinebit ;  scrupulum  si  posueris,  descendit. 
Unde  intelliges  non  ponderis  esse,  sed  naturse  distinctionem. 
Itaque  si  aurifex  pannis  tostilibus  adustis  ex  friso  in  rudi  vase 
fictili  solidari  pulyerem  voluerit,  lava,  postea  mixtum  argento 
vivoy  yel  in  panno,  yel  in  linthiolo,  cumprimis,  ut  liquor  argenti 
Yin  expressus  emanet,  et  aurum  extrinsecus  remaneat 


something  may  have  been  omitted  by  Le  Begue,  for  this  paragraph  is 
evidently  unconnected  with  the  first  part  of  the  chapter.  The  following 
extract  from  Vitruvius  (lib.  vii.,  cap.  viii.)  may  render  the  passage  more 

intelligible : — **  Ingrediar  nunc  Minii  rationes  ezplicare Foditur  enim 

gleha,  quae  Anthrax  dicitur  antequam  tractionibus  ad  minium  perveniat,  vena 
uti  ferreo  magis  subrufo  colore,  habens  circa  se  rubrum  pulverem ;  cum  id 
foditur,  ex  plagis  ferramentorum  crebras  emittit  lacrymas  argenti  vivi,  quee  a 
fossoribus  statim  colliguntur." 


248  MANUSCIUFl^S  OF  JEHAK  LB  BEGUK 

Ln.  [242]  On  the  mixture  of  colours^  and  what  the  colours  are f 
particularly  lahes^  which  are  used  for  want  of  other  colours. — 
It  is  evident  that  all  colours  are  corrupted  by  mixing  them ; 
although,  indeed,  in  tempering  ^'  folium/'  lime  made  from  hard 
stone  is  used,  lest  the  colour  should  fade  for  want  of  body. 
For  when  '^  folium"  is  distempered  with  a  pernicious  quantity 
of  albumen,  that  is  white  of  egg,  it  can  [not?]  be  employed 
with  great  beauty  and  advantage.  The  juice  of  dragon's  blood, 
and  *^sandis,"  that  is,  madder — is  used  either  pure  or  with  red 
chalk  ;  other  juices  of  a  similar  kind  are  also  mixed  with  green 
or  yellow  earth.  ''Crisicula^"  [chrysocolla]  comes  from  Ma^- 
cedon,  and  is  dug  in  copper  mines.  Lidicus  by  its  name  shows 
whence  it  is  brought. 

Lin.  [243]  How  atramentum  of  various  kinds  is  made? — 
The  method  of  making  ink  is  as  follows,  for  it  is  necessary,  not 
only  for  use  in  painting,  but  even  for  every  day  writing.  A  vase 
is  put  into  a  hollow  chamber ;  and  a  furnace  is  made  so  as  to 
have  nostrils,  that  is,  apertures,  through  which  the  smoke  can 
penetrate  into  the  vase.  Some  tiles  must  then  be  laid  in  the 
furnace,  and  upon  these  hot  tiles  resin  must  be  put,  so  as  to 
drive  all  the  smoke  and  soot  into  the  vase.  Afterwards  grind 
the  soot  very  fine,  and  you  will  make  a  very  bright  atramen- 
tum, with  which  you  must  mix  painter's  size.  To  accelerate 
the  process,  sofl  charcoal  of  wood,  or  of  peach-stones,  ground 
up  with  glue,  is  useful.  Charred  twigs  also  will  imitate  the 
appearance  of  atramentum ;  but  the  blackest  twigs  must  be 
used.  If  good  wine  is  poured  over  them,  and  glue  be  added, 
they  will  form  a  colour  which  will  appear  to  imitate  the  soft- 
ness of  daylight. 

LI  V.  [245]  How  to  make  a  ^^purpurino*^  colour  out  of  various 
things  in  various  ways. — Stones  or  flints,  tiiat  is,  stones  emitting 
fire,  seem  very  necessary  for  painting,  when  they  are  heated  in 
the  fire,  and  quenched  with  very  strong  vinegar,  and  they  will  give 

*  See  Vitruv.,  lib.  vii.  c.  ix.  ■  Ibid.  c.  x. 

'  Ibid.  cap.  xi.    This  chapter  treats  of  red  or  crimson  colours,  and  not 
of  the  *'  Purpurino  '*  of  the  Italians. 


ERACLITJ8  DE  COLORIBXJS  ET  ARTIBXJS  ROMAl^ORUM.  249 

LH.  [242']  De  cohrum  commixtwne^  et  quotes  ipsi  colores 
tufdy  prcBcipue  infectivi,  quibus  utitur  propter  aliorum' cohrum 
inopiam, — Colores  autem  onines  commixtione  corrompi  mani- 
festom  est  Siquidem  in  temperamento  folii  utilitur  calx  ex 
duro  saxa  facta,  ne  minus  pressus  pereat  Quippe  aqua  dis- 
temperato  folicio,  cum  perniciosa  quantita  albuginis,  id  est, 
glarea  on,  pulcherrime  et  utiliter  miscetur.  Sanguis  dra- 
dionifl  aut  sandis,  id  est,  garanda ;  ejus  autem  purus  succus, 
aut  creta  rubea,  viridi  quoque,  et  croceo,  alii  suae  qualitatis 
permiscentur.  Crisicula  a  Macedonia  venit,  foditur  autem 
ex  metallis  aerariis.     Indicum  ab  ipsis  ostenditur  ubi  nasdtur. 


Lin.  [243]  Qfiomodo  ft  attramentum  diversarum  specie^ 
rum. — ^Attramenti  vero  compositio  sic  erit  observanda,  quae  non 
solum  ad  usum  picture  necessaria  videtur,  sed  etiam  at  cothi- 
dianas  scripturas.  Vasculus  curva  camera  servatur :  fomacula 
sic  componatur,  ut  nares,  id  est,  suspiracula,  babeantur  in  vas- 
culo,  quibus  fumus  possit  intrare.  Tegulae  in  eadem  fomace 
intendantur.  Super  tegulas  ardentes  resina  mittatur,  ut  omnem 
fumum  et  fuli^nem  per  nares  in  vasculum  exprimat.  Postea 
ftdiginem  diligenter  conteres,  et  attramentum  fades  nitidum, 
pictorum  autem  gluten  misceas  ipsi.  Ad  accelerationem  etiam 
opens,  carbones  molles  ligni,  et  ossium  persicorum,  cum  glu- 
tino  contriti.  Talent.  Nee  minus  sarmenta  exusta  attramenti 
qualitatem  imitabunt,  sed  sarmenta  quae  nigrioris  colons  sunt, 
si  in  optimo  vino  perfundantur,  postea  exusta  fuerint,  addito 
glutino,  imitari  etiam  diei  suavitatem  monstrabunt 

LIV.  [245]  Quomodo  Jit  purpurinus  color  ex  diversis  diversi' 
mode. — Utique  plurimum  necessaria  in  operibus  picturae 
▼identur  glebae  yel  silices,  id  est,  lapides  ignem  emittentes,  cum 
in  igne  cocuntur,  tunc,  aceto  acerrimo  perfuso,  extinguuntur,  et 


250  MANUSCBIFTS  OF  JEHAK  LE  BEQUE. 

a  purple  colour.  Copper  burnt  becomes  ceruse.'  The  oster* 
also,  the  blood  of  which  is  used  fat  a  purple  colour,  is  found  in 
many  places,  but  the  best  are  found  in  the  island  of  Cyprus, 
when  they  grow  with  the  sun  [L  e.  in  the  spring].  Having, 
therefore,  cut  them  round,  pound  them^  and  they  will  give  out 
drops  of  a  purple  colour,  which,  beii^  run  tc^ether,  are  tem- 
pered as  a  purple  pigment.  This  pigment  is  called  **  oster," 
because  it  is  obtained  from  the  above  liquor,  which  soon  solidi- 
fies on  account  of  its  saltness. 

LV.  [245]  Of  lakes;  and  how  they  are  made  of  various  sub-- 
stances  in  various  manners^ — Purple  colours  are  also  made  by 
straining  [a  decoction  of]  boiled  madder  roots.  So  also  other  co- 
lours are  dyed  with  flowers.  Thus,  when  painters  wish  to  imitate 
sil  atticum  they  put  dried  violets^  into  a  vase  of  water  over  the 
fire  to  boil,  and,  when  boiled  down,  they  are  strained  through 
a  linen  cloth,  and  rubbed  down  in  a  mortar  with  chalk,  and  so 
a  colour  like  sil  atticum  is  made.  In  the  same  manner,  tem- 
pering "  vaccinium"  with  milk,  a  very  elegant  purple  colour  is 
made ;  so  the  herb  which  is  called  ^'  litea"^  gives  out  an  azure 
juice ;  and  a  very  deep  green  colour  is  also  made.  These  are 
called  ^'  infectivi ;"  and  are  used  for  want  of  simple  colours. 
In  the  same  manner,  also,  mixing  formosa  or  angularia*  with 
glass,  they  make  colours  with  it. 

LVI.  [282]  On  mixing  colours  together  in  painting^  and  in 
illuminating  ;  and  of  the  ways  in  which  pictures  areJUledin  with 
themy  and  how  the  lights  and  shades  are  laid  an,'' — Mix  azure 
with  ceruse ;  shade  it  with  indigo ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  white- 
lead.     Shade  pure  vermilion  with  brunum  or  with  dragon's 


^  There  is  probably  tome  mistake  here.    See  Vitniv.,  lib.  vii.  cap.  xii. 
'  Ibid.  cap.  xiiL 
'  Ibid.  cap.  xiv. 

<  The  Viola  lutea,  or  Wall-flower. 

*  Lutea — The  Reseda  Luteola — Dyer's  weed,  Weld.   See  Vitniv.,  ibid. 
'  The  annularia  of  Vitruvius  and  Pliny. 

'  This  chapter  and  the  next  are  certainly  translations  from  some  Byzan- 
tine MS.  The  term  Bisctum,  Biseth,  occurs  frequently.    It  is  a  comiptioa 


ERACLIUS  DE  COLORIBTTS  BT  ARTIBUS  ROMANORUH.  251 

reddentpurpureiuncolorem.  Cuprum  adustum  fit  ceruBa.  Oster 
autem,  cujus  saiigninem  qui  pro  colore  purpurse  temperatur, 
pluribuB  lock  nascitur,  sed  optimum  in  insula  Cipri,  cum  aolis 
cursum  habentur.  Concute  itaque,  cum  circumcisae  fiieriut, 
lacrimas  in  purpureum  colorem  emittunt,  quibus  ooUectis,  pur- 
pureus  color  temperatur.  Hoc  autem  oeter  est  appellatum, 
quod  ex  hum(H%  licetur,  qui  cito  ex  sabugine  inhserescit. 


LV.  [245]  J)ecol<mbminf0ctiviB^etquamodoJiuTa€xdiverM 
divemmode.—Fi\mtetiam  purpurei  colores,  infectacocta  rubea 
radice.  Similiter  ex  floribus  alii  colored  ioficiuntur.  Itaque 
pictores,  cum  yoluerint  silvaticum  imitari,  viola  arida  in  aqua 
cum  vaae  ad  ignem  ponatur,  ut  ferveat,  et  decoctam  in  linteolo 
exprimunt,  et  in  mortario  cum  creta  terunt,  et  faciunt  silasa- 
cetum  colorem.  Eadem  ratione,  yaccinium  cum  lacte  tempe- 
rantes,  purpureum  faciunt  eleganter,  uti  berba  quae  Utea 
appellatur,  suocum  effidt  csruleum,  et  utuntur  viridiasimo 
colore.  Hapc  infectiva  appellantur,  quibus  utitur  propter  in- 
ojnam  colorum  simplicium.  Simili  modo  cum  in  formosam  seu 
angnlariam  vitro  misoentes,  infidunt  ex  ea  colores« 


LVI.  [282]  De  miscendis  inter  secoloribuspinffendoetiUumi'' 
nandOf  et  de  modis  cum  de  ipsis  implentur  opera  et  matizantur 
et  ineiduntur  alter  ex  ahero.—'Azunxnn  misces  cum  cerosio; 
incides  de  iodico;  matizabis  de  albo  plumbo.  Vermiculum 
purum  incides  de  bruno,  aut  de  sanguine  draconis ;  matizabis 


of  Pessette,  the  Italian  name  for  those  pieces  of  rag  dipped  in  the  Juice  of 
certain  plants,  which  were  used  in  painting,  and  for  other  purposes.  The 
Turks  and  inhabitants  of  the  Levant  still  call  them  **  Bezerere  Rubr^  " 
(see  Pierre  Pomet,  Histoire  G^n^rale  des  Drogues,  Tit.  Tompsole).  In 
the  west  oi  Europe  they  were  called  Bezette  or  Bezeth.  From  the  term 
"Vergaut,"  which  occurs  in  this  recipe,  and  which  appears  to  signify 
"  Vert  bleu,"  **  blue  green,"  or  "  Verde  azzurro,"  I  should  think  the  trans- 
lation was  by  a  Frenchman. 


252  MANUSCRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEGUS. 

blood ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  orpiment  or  mimam.     Also  mix 
Termilion  with  white-lead,  aad  make  the  colour  which  is  caUed 
rosa ;  shade  with  vermilion ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  white  [and] 
rosa,  or  with  white-lead.     Also  make  a  coloor  with  dragon's 
blood  and  orpiment ;  shade  it  with  bninum ;  lay  on  the  li^ts 
with  orpiment.    Shade  carminium  with  brunum;   vary  with 
minium.     Shade  folium  with  brunum ;  lay  on  the  li^ts  with 
bisetum  folii.     Also  mix   folium  with  white ;  shade   it  with 
folium ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  white-lead.     Shade  ochre  with 
vermilion;  lay  on  the  li^ts  with  white  [and?]  odire.     Also 
shade  ochre  with  green ;  lay  on  the  li^ts  with  white.     Shade 
white  with  pure  minium ;  and  vary  with  azure.    Sbade  brunum 
with  black ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  azure  or  minium.    Also  mix 
brunum  with  white,  and  it  will  make  a  beautiful  rose  colour ; 
shade  with  brunum ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  white  or  with  bise- 
tum folii.     Also  mix  brunum  with  minium ;  shade  with  black ; 
and  lay  on  the  lights  with  red  minium.    Mix  orpiment  with 
azure  or  indigo,  or  ochre  with  indigo,  or  green,  and  it  will  be 
good  ^*  vergaut ;"  then  vary  with  brunum  or  black ;  lay  on  the 
li^ts  with  orpiment  or  with  bisetum.    Shade  green  with  black ; 
lay  on  the  lights  with  bisetum.    Mix  green  with  white ;  shade 
with  green ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  white.    Shade  brunum  with 
black ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  vergaut  or  with  minium  mixed 
with  brunum.     Shade  indigo  with  black ;  lay  on  the  li^ts  with 
azure,  or  vergaut,  or  bisetum.    Shade  orpiment  with  vermilion ; 
lay  on  the  li^ts  with  white  [and  ?]  orpiment     Carminium  is 
made  with  white  and  ochre. 

LVn.  [283]  On  colours  incompatible  with  each  other. — ^Now, 
if  you  wish  to  know  which  are  the  colours  that  are  incompatible 
with  each  other,  they  are  these : — Orpiment  does  not  agree  with 
folium,  or  with  green,  or  with  minium.  Nor  does  green  agree 
with  folium,  namely,  in  the  mixture  of  the  materials  of  the  said 
pigments,  and  in  the  works  in  which  they  are  employed  together. 


ERACLIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  ET  ARTIBXJS  ROMANOKUM.  253 

de  auripigmento  aut  de  minio.  Item,  veimiculam  misce  cum 
albo  plumboy  et  fades  colorem  qui  vocatur  roea ;  incide  de  ver- 
miculo ;  matizabis  de  [alba^  rosa,  aut  de]  albo  plumbo.  Item, 
facies  colorem  de  sanguine  draconis  et  de  auripigmento ;  incide 
de  bruno ;  matizabis  de  auripigmento.  Cannitaium  incide  de 
bruno;  de  rubeo  minio  undabis.^  Folium  incide  de  bruno; 
matiza  de  biseto  folii.'  Item,  misce  folium  cum  albo ;  incide 
de  folio ;  matiza  de  albo  plumbo/  Ocrum  incide  de  vermi- 
culo ;  matiza  de  albo  oero.  Item,  ocrum  incide  de  viride ; 
matiza  de  albo.  Album  minii  purum  incide,  et  undabis  simul 
de  azmro.  Brunum  incide  de  nigro;  matiza  de  azurio  vel 
minio.  Item,  misces  brunum  cum  albo,  fietque  pulcra  rosa ; 
incide  de  bruno ;  matiza  de  albo,  vel  de  biseto  folii.  Item, 
brunum  nusces  cum  minio ;  incides  de  nigro ;  matiza  de  rubeo 
minio.  Misce  auripigmentum  cum  azurio  yel  indico,  aut 
ocrum  cum  indico,  yel  riride,  et  erit  bonum  vergaut ;  inde  de 
bruno,  aut  de  nigro,  undabis ;  auripigmento  aut  de  biseth  ma- 
tizabis. Viride  incide  de  nigro,  et  matizabis  de  biseto.  Misce 
viride  cum  albo ;  incide  de  viride ;  matiza  de  albo.  Brunum 
incide  de  nigro ;  matiza  de  vergaut,  aut  de  minio  mixto  cum 
bruno.  Indicum  incide  de  nigro;  matiza  de  azurio,  vel  de 
vergaut,  aut  biseth.  Auripigmentum  incide  de  vermiculo; 
matiza  de  albo  auripigmento.    Carminium  fit  de  albo  et  ocro. 


LVII.  [283]  De  colaribus  sibi  cantrariis. — Modo  si  vis  scire 
qui  sunt  colores  qui  nbi  invicem  alter  alteri  sunt  contrarii,  hi  sunt. 
Auripigmentum  non  concordat  cum  folio,  nee  cum  viride,  nee 
cum  minio.  Nee  viride  concordat  cum  folio,  scilicet  in  mix- 
turis  materiarum  ipsorum  colorum,  et  operationibus  mixtis 
eorum,  quse  discordantis  non  sunt  in  qualitatibus  colorum,  nee 


*  Ex  P. ;  in  alteria  omittitur.  ■  Matizabii  de  rubeo  minio,  C. 

»  De  aUfo  plumbo  C.        *  Albo  folio  P. 


254  MAKU8CRIFTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGTJE. 

And  these  discordances  are  not  in  the  mere  [optical  qualities  of 
the  pigments,  nor  in  their  accidents  of  colour ;  for  there  are  no 
colours,  or  qualities  of  colours,  eitiier  simple  or  mixed,  which,  as 
regards  the  colour  only,  do  not  agree  with  any  oilier  sorts  of 
colours  in  mixtures,  namely,  for  composing  other  difTa^nt  mix- 
tures ;  and  you  may  thus  have  at  pleasure  almost  innumerable 
varieties  of  colours.  But  the  said  discordances  are^  and  are  to 
be  understood  as  being,  in  the  other  natural  conditions,  incident 
to  thesubstanceof  the  said  pigments,  they  being  contrary  to  each 
other  in  such  manner  tiiat,  if  tiiey  are  mixed  togetiier,  one  sub- 
stance, by  a  certain  natuml  incompatibility,  diher  changes  the 
other  or  is  changed  by  it ;  and  so  the  quality  and  beauty  of 
the  pigments  themselves,  as  well  separate  as  mixed,  and  their 
own  substance,  and  the  work  done  with  them,  are  spoiled  and 
destroyed.  They  therefore  do  not  bear  to  be  mixed  together ; 
and  so,  in  the  art  of  painting,  besides  the  conndaration  that 
is  to  be  had  for  the  varieties  of  colour,  and  these  and  other 
things  relating  to  the  said  art,  we  must  not  fwget  the  proper 
and  necessary  considerations,  drawn  from  a  true  theoretical  and 
practical  knowledge  of  and  acquaintance  with  the  natural  o(m- 
ditiona  and  contrarieties  existing  in  the  materials  and  liquors  of 
the  said  colours,  and  of  the  contrarieties  of  the  other  things  in- 
cident to  that  art. 

LVni.  [286]  Of  the  care  which  must  he  taken  with  regard  to 
the  nature  of  the  colours  and  of  the  toay  of  mixing  them  together^ 
and  of  the  miethod  to  be  observed  in  shading  and  laying  on  the 
lights  J  on  which  another  chapter  hcu  been  inserted. — If  you  wish  to 
know  well  the  natures  of  the  colours,  and  the  mixtures  of  them, 
as  whether  they  are  transparent  or  opaque,  give  attention  to  what 
follows.  And  note,  that  you  must  shade  azure  with  black ;  and 
lay  on  the  lights  with  white  lead.  Also  mix  azure  witii  white 
lead ;  and  shade  [with  azure,  and  lay  on  the  lights]  with  white 
lead.  Shade  vermilion  with  brunum ;  and  lay  on  the  lights  with 
orpiment.  Also  mix  vermilion  with  white  lead,  and  make  the 
colour  which  is  called  rosa ;  shade  it  with  vermilion  ;  lay  on  tlie 
lights  with  white  lead.    Shade  orpiment  with  vermilion,  and  orpi- 


ERACLIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  EX  ABTIBUS  ROMANORUM.   255 

ex  aocidentibus  ooloratiyis  eorum  ;  quia  nuUi  colores,  nee  co- 
lonun  qualitatea,  sunt,  simplices  aut  mixtas,  quse  et  qui, 
quantum  ad  colores,  non  conveniant  quibuslibet  aliis  in  mix* 
turis,  ad  componendas,  scilicet,  alias  diversas  et  quasi  innume* 
rabiles  qualitatum  varietates  ad  pladtum  habebis :  sed  diets 
discordantis  intelliguntur  et  sunt,  quantum  ad  ceteras  natu* 
rales  eonditiones  insistentes  in  materiis  ipsorum  oolorum  in- 
vicem  taliter  eontrarias,  quod,  si  simul  miscentur,  una  materia, 
ex  contrarietatequadam  naturali  alterius,  vel  alterat  alteram, 
et  altera  alteram,  et  colorum  ipsorum  qualitas  et  puleritudo, 
tam  distincta  quam  mixta,  neenon  eorum  materia,  et  opus  ex 
ea  factum,  vastatur  et  deletur.  Igitur  mixtiones  ad  insimul 
invicem  non  tolerant;  et  sic  non  prstermittendum  est,  quin  in 
arte  pietoriae,  ultra  delntas  considerationes  quantum  ad  colorum 
Tarietates,  ae  eorum  et  aliarum  rerum  in  ipsa  arte  ooncurren- 
tium  differentias,  habeantur  etiam  debite  et  necessarie  consi- 
derationes, ex  vera  theorecali  vel  practieali  scientia  et  cogni- 
tione  eonditionum  et  contrarietatum  naturalium,  insistentium 
materiis  et  liquoribus  ipsorum  colorum,  et  rerum  contrarialibus 
in  ipsa  arte  intervenientium. 


LVni.  [286]  De  diligentia  quoe  kaberi  debet  circa  naturcu 
colorum,  et  de  tnodis  miscendiy  eos  inter  se,  et  incidendiy  et  mati- 
zandij  cum  in  operihus  distinguuntur,  ut  etiam  aliud  capitum  de 
hoc  antepositum  est. — Si  vis  bene  scire  naturas  colorum  et  mix- 
tiones eorum,  ut  hi  sunt  clan  et  spissi,  diligenter  autem  intentum 
appone.  Et  nota  quod  lazurium  incides  de  nigro ;  matizabis 
autem  de  albo  plumbo.  Item,  misces  lazurium  cum  albo  plumbo 
[incides^  de  azur,  matizabis]  de  albo  plumbo.  Vermiculum 
incides  de  bruno ;  matizabis  aimpigmento.  Item,  miscebis  ver- 
miculum cum  albo  plumbo,  et  facies  colorem  qui  vocatur  rosa ; 
incides  de  vermiculo ;  matizabis  de  albo  plumbo.  Auripigmen- 
tum  incides  de  vermiculo  ;  et  illi  matizatura  non  est,  quia  ster- 
corat  omnes  alios  colores.     Turn  si  vis  facere  gladium  viridem, 

»  Ex.  T. ;  et  incides  P. 


256  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGTJE. 

ment  has  no  light  tint,  because  it  mars  all  colours.  Hien,  if 
you  wish  to  make  lily-green,  mix  orpiment  with  indigo;  shade  it 
with  black ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  orpiment  Shade  dragon's 
blood  with  black ;  lay  the  li^ts  on  with  white  lead.  Also  mix 
dragon's  blood  with  orpiment ;  shade  with  dragon's  blood;  lay 
on  the  lights  with  orpiment  You  must  shade  green  with  blade, 
and  lay  on  the  lights  with  white  lead.  Also  mix  green  with 
white  lead ;  shade  with  green  ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  white  lead. 
Shade  granetum  with  green ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  white  lead. 
Shade  indigo  with  azure ;  lay  on  the  lights  with  white  lead. 
Also  mix  indigo  with  white  lead ;  shade  with  indigo ;  lay  on 
the  lights  with  white  lead.  Shade  flesh  colour  with  black ;  lay 
on  the  lights  with  white  lead.  Also  mix  saffi*on  with  white  lead ; 
shade  with  safiron ;  lay  on  the  li^ts  with  white  lead.  Sbsde 
folium  with  black;  lay  on  the  lights  with  white  lead.  Mix 
folium  with  white  lead;  shade  with  folium;  lay  on  the  lights 
with  white  lead.  If  you  wish  to  make  a  colour  like  hly- green, 
mix  azure  with  white  lead ;  shade  it  with  azure  ;  lay  on  the 
lights  with  white  lead  ;  and  when  it  is  dry,  cover  it  over  with 
clear  safiron.  Orpiment  does  not  agree  with  green,  or  with 
folium,  or  with  red  minium,  or  with  white  minium,  as  we  have 
already  said. 


ERACLIUS  DE  COLOMBUS  ET  ARTIBUS  ROMANORUM.   257 

auripigmentum  misce  cum  iDdico ;  incides  cum  nigro ;  matiza- 
bis  auripigmento.  Sanguinem  draconis  incides  de  nigro ;  mati- 
zabis  de  albo  plumbo.  Item,  misces  s&nguinem.  draconis  cum 
auripigmento ;  incides  de  sanguine  draconis ;  matizabis  de  albo 
plumbo.  Item,  misces  sanguinem  draconis  cum  auripigmento ; 
incides  de  sanguine  draconis ;  de  auripigmento  matizabis.  Vi- 
ride  incides  de  nigro;  matizabis  de  albo  plumbo.  Item,  misce- 
bis  yiride  cum  albo  plumbo ;  incides  de  viridi ;  matizabis  de 
albo  plumbo.  Granetum  incides  de  viridi ;  matizabis  de  albo 
plumbo.  Indicum  incides  de  lazurio ;  matizabis  de  albo  plumbo. 
Item,  misce  indicum  cum  albo  plumbo ;  incides  de  indico,  ma- 
tizabis de  albo  plumbo.  Carminimi  incides  de  nigro ;  mati- 
zabis de  albo  plumbo.  Item,  misces  crocum  cum  albo  plumbo; 
incides  de  croco ;  matizabis  de  albo  plumbo.  Folium  incides 
de  nigro;  matizabis  de  albo  plumbo.  Misces  folium  cum 
albo  plumbo;  incides  de  folio;  matizabis  de  albo  plumbo. 
Si  vis  facere  colorem  similem  gladio  viridi,  misce  lazurium 
cum  albo  plumbo ;  incides  de  lazurio ;  matizabis  de  albo  plumbo ; 
et  quando  fiierit  siccus  operi  de  claro  croco.  Auripigmentum 
non  concordat  cum  viridi,  nee  cum  folio,  nee  cum  rubeo  minio, 
nee  cum  albo  minio,  ut  antea  jam  dictum  est. 


VOL.  I.  8 


(     258     ) 


THE  FOLLOWING  18 

A  TREATISE  UPON  COLOURS 

OF   VARIOUS    KINDS. 

AND  nBsr 
THE  INTRODUCTION. 

290.  In  the  year  of  the  Circumcision  of  Christ  1 398, 
on  Sunday,  the  28th  day  of  July,  John  Archbbius 
wrote  and  noted  down,  at  Paris,  the  following  chapters 
concerning  colours  for  painting,  according  to  the  words 
and  instructions  given  him  by  Jacob  Cona,  a  Flemish 
painter  then  residing  at  Paris,  who,  as  he  said,  had 
himself  tried,  and  used,  during  the  whole  period  of  his 
life,  the  recipes  contained  in  the  following  pages. 

And  afterwards  in  the  month  of  December,  in  the 
year  of  Christ  141 1,  the  said  John,  more  than  a  year 
after  his  return  from  Lombardy,  corrected  them  in  se- 
veral places,  according  to  various  information  which  he 
had  since  received,  both  from  other  authentic  books 
relating  to  such  things,  and  otherwise ;  and  which  he 
copied  fairly  as  follows : — 

291.  For  laying  gold  in  different  ways  upon  various  artidet 
80  that  it  may  be  burnished^  and  the  cautions  to  be  observed 
concerning  this  in  painting. — For  laying  gold  on  parchment,^ 

>  Carta  et  papiro.  It  is  difficult  to  translate  these  words  accuntel/ : 
there  is  no  doubt  that  in  this  sentence  carta  means  pardammt^  which 
would  otherwise  be  omitted  in  enumerating  the  subetances  on  which 
gold  was  laid.  Papirus  also  may  be  undenitood  to  mean  paper ^  since 
cotton  and  linen  paper  were  both  in  use  at  this  time.  The  next  time  the 
author  mentions  the  word  "  carta"  he  explicitly  speaks  of  that  kind  called 


(     259     ) 


DE  COIORIBUS  DIVERSIS  MODIS  TRACTATUR 

IN    SEQUENTIBUS. 

ET   PRIMO 

MODUS  PROHEMII. 

290.  Anno  circumcisionis  Christi  1398  die  dominicae 
28  Julii,  Johannes  Archerius  scripsit  et  notavit  in 
Parisiis  sequentia  capitula  de  coloribus  ad  pingendum, 
per  verba  et  signamenta  qusB  sibi  dixit  Jacobus  Cona 
flamingus  pictor  commorans  tunc  Parisiis,  qui  toto  tem- 
pore suo  ut  dixerat  temptaverat  et  usus  fuerat  ipsemet 
de  contentis  in  sequentibus.  Et  post  ea  anno  Christi 
1411  de  mense  decembris,  idem  Johannes  reversus  de 
partibus  Lombardise  jam  per  plusquam  unum  annum, 
correxit  ea  in  pluribus  locis  secundum  plures  informa- 
tiones,  quas  inde  postea  per  ceteros  libros  autentiquos 
de  talibus  narrantes  et  aliter  habuerat,  et  ad  nettum 
rescripsit  ut  sequitur. 


291.  Ad  panendum  aurum  bumiendum  super  diversis  diverse 
mode  et  de  cautelis  habendii  circa  hoc  pinpendo. — ^Ad  poneDdum 
aurum  in  carta,  pajnro,  tela  linea ;  sindone,  et  in  ligneis  tabulis 

"  ptrchmeDt "  (pergamenuin),  of  the  dippiiigs  of  which,  he  addi,  the  size 
might  be  made.  In  the  earlier  part  of  this  MS.  I  have  translated  the  word 
**  carta"  always  by  **  parchment/'  but  it  appears  that  it  was  also  applied  to 
paper  at  this  period,  138^—1411. 

The  exact  date  when  the  Egyptian  paper,  made  of  the  papinis,  fell  into 
disuse  in  Europe  is  not  known,  but  it  appears  from  the  testimony  of  Eusta- 

82 


260  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEOX7E. 

paper,  linen  cloth,  sindone,^  and  on  primed  wooden  panels, 
which  gold  may  be  burnished,  that  is  polished.  Take  the  white 
gersa,  which  is  otherwise  called  white  chalk,  which  is  found 
in  abundance  at  Bologna  and  at  Paris ;  and  a  little  Armenian 
bole,  in  quantity  about  one-fourth  of  the  chalk,  or  a  little  crocus, 
which  is  commonly  called  saflron.  This  Armenian  bole  and 
this  saflron  are  not  added  because  they  cannot  be  omitted  with- 
out great  inconvenience  by  any  one  who  wishes  to  do  so,  but 
merely  that  the  colour  may  not  be  white,  but  yellowish  or 
reddish  ;  and  not  for  any  other  reason  than  this,  namely,  that 
when  it  is  laid  upon  the  paper,  it  may  difier  from  the  whiteness 
of  the  paper,  and  thus  the  things  which  are  made  of  it  are 
better  seen  than  they  would  be  if  the  colour  of  it  was  white 
like  that  paper  which  is  called  parchment.  Grind  all  these 
things  very  fine  upon  a  hard  stone,  well  polished,  and  broad, 
with  another  stone  to  be  held  in  the  hand,  polished  in  the  same 
manner  with  clear  water  from  a  well  or  a  spring,  and  let  the 

cbius,  the  learned  commentator  on  Homer,  that  it  was  no  longer  in  use  in 
hU  time,  1170. 

The  invention  of  paper  made  from  cotton  is  believed  to  have  occurred  in 
Greece  in  the  tenth  century.  The  most  ancient  MS.  that  Montfaucon  saw 
on  this  paper,  with  the  date,  was  written  a.d.  1050. 

Theophilus,  lib.  i.  c.  zxiii.,  mentions  **  pergamenum  gracam  qua  fit  tx 
iana  ligni,*'  This  is  the  reading  of  Raspe,  from  a  MS.  of  Uie  thirteenth 
century,  and  may  certainly  be  understood  to  apply  to  the  cotton  paper  made 
in  Greece,  which  was  called  by  the  Italians  **  Carta  Bambagina ;"  but  the 
copy  of  the  MS.  of  Theophilus,  which  formed  part  of  the  MS.  of  Le  Begue, 
which  is  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  which  is  in  his  hand-writing,  instead 
of  '*  ligni/'  has  the  words  "  hm  id  est  papirum"  Le  Begue  then  may  be 
considered  to  have  understood  this  iMssage,  if  indeed  he  did  not  interpolate 
the  words  '*  id  est  papirum"  as  applying  to  paper  made  of  rags  or  linen. 
We  may  therefore,  I  think,  consider  that,  where  pcqpirus  is  used  in  the  MS. 
of  Jehan  Le  Begue,  paper  made  of  rags  is  meant. 

I  am  the  more  strongly  inclined  to  this  opinion,  because  the  author  of  the 
article  '  Paper '  in  the  '  Encyclopeedia  Britannica,'  quoting  the  work  of  the 
Abb^  Andrez,  published  at  Parma  in  1782,  entitled  <  Dell'  Origine,  Pro- 
gressi,  e  Stato  attuale  d*Ogni  Letteratura,'  says  that  paper  made  from  silk 
was  anciently  fabricated  in  China,  and  that  the  art  of  making  this  paper  was 


'  Sindone^  a  kind  of  very  fine  linen,  such  as  cambric  or  lawn. 


ALCHERIUS  D£  COLORIBUS  DIVERSIS,  EXa  261 

dealbatis,  quod  aurum  bumiatur,  id  est,  poliri  possit.  Accipe 
gersam  albam  quae  aliter  didtur  creta  alba  de  qua  habundanter 
reperitur  hancnuB  et  Parisiis,^  et  aocipe  parum  bularmenii  circa 
quantitatem  quartse  partis  cretse,  yel  panim  croci,  qm  vulgariter 
dicitur  safran  et  qui  bularmenius  et  saffiranus  non  ponuntur 
quia  non  possunt  absque  magno  kiconTenienti  dimitti  qui  yult, 
sed  ponuntur  solum  ut  ipse  color  non  sit  albus  sed  sit  croceus 
Tel  rubescens  et  non  per  alia  causa,  ad  hoc  quod  dum  ponitur  in 
opere  super  cartam  que  differenciet  ab  albedine  cartse  et  quod 
per  hoc  melius  videantur  quae  fiunt  de  ipso  quod  videri  possent 
si  ipse  color  esset  albus  ut  est  carta  quae  dicitur  pergamenum. 
£t  ea  omnia  tere  yalde  subtiliter  super  lapidem  durum  bene 
politum  et  latum  et  cum  alio  lapide  manuali  similiter  polito, 
iriz.  cum  aqua  clara  putei  vel  fontis  et  fiat  tempera  seu  color 
qui  in  gallico  dicitur  assiete^  quae  postea  si  vis  tamen  antequam 
pemtus  siccet,  dum  tamen  induratus  jam  sit,  quia  postquam 
siccus  sit  potes  distemperare  cum  aqua  colata,  ex  cola  facta  de 

carried  from  China  to  Persia  about  the  year  652,  and  to  Mecca  in  706. 
The  Arabs  substituted  cotton,  the  production  of  their  own  country,  for  silk, 
and  introduced  the  paper  into  Spain.  The  Spaniards,  from  the  quantity  of 
linen  to  be  found  in  the  kingdom  of  Valencia,  seem  first  to  have  adopted 
the  idea  of  using  linen  rags,  and  the  most  ancient  paper  of  this  kind  is  that 
of  Valenda  and  Catalonia.  From  Spain  it  passed  into  France,  as  may  be 
learned  from  a  letter  of  Joinville  to  St.  Louis  about  1260.  It  is  discovered 
to  have  been  in  Germany  in  1312,  and  in  England  hi  1320.  In  consequence 
of  the  paper  made  from  cotton  in  the  Levant,  the  paper  from  linen  was 
introduced  much  later  in  Italy.  '*  Carta  Bambagina  *'  is  frequently  men- 
tioned in  the  MS.  of  Cennino  Cennini,  written  at  Florence  in  1437,  and  it 
is  still  made  in  the  Levant. 

The  precise  period  of  the  introduction  of  paper  made  from  rags  into 
France  and  Italy  is  not  known,  but  Montfauoon  could  find  no  book  on  this 
))aper  antecedent  to  the  death  of  St.  Louis. 

We  may  then  conclude,  that  during  the  time  of  Jehan  Le  Begue,  paper 
made  from  linen  rags  was  used  in  France  and  Germany,  and  that  in  Italy 
paper  was  made  from  cotton,  while  parchment,  which  had  become  scarce, 
was  employed  occasionally  throughout  Europe. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  following  chapters  Alcherius  writes  "  per- 
gamena  seu  carta." 


Sic  sublin.  in  MS.,  sed  in  atramento  recentori. 


262  MANUSCBIPTS  OF  JBHAN  LE  BEQUE. 

mixture  or  colour  be  made,  which  in  French  is  called  asdeU^ 
which  you  may  afterwards,  if  you  like,  before  it  is  quite 
dry,  but  after  it  has  set,  distemper  with  glue  water,  made 
with  glue  from  cuttings  of  the  white  leather  of  which  glomes 
are  made.  Clippings  of  parchment  also  are  good  for  this  pur* 
pose,  but  the  cuttings  of  the  white  leather  make  the  glue 
stronger.  Lastly,  let  the  size,  or  sized  water,  be  warm ;  I  say 
warm,  lest  it  may  be  conglutinated,  because  if  the  size  is  as  it 
ought  to  be,  when  it  is  cold  it  will  be  congealed  like  jelly  for 
gdlaniina  [brawn]  not  very  hard,  and  this  on  account  of  the 
glue  which  is  made  to  enter  into  the  water  by  the  decoction  of 
the  cuttings  of  leather  or  of  parchment  in  that  water,  which  is 
congealed  by  cold.  And  therefore  summer  weather  is  very 
oonvenient  for  this,  both  because  it  does  not  allow  the  colour  to 
congeal  or  chill,  and  because  it  makes  the  colour  dry  quickly 
when  it  is  laid  on.  And  wiUi  this  warm  nze,  you  must,  as  has 
been  said  before,  distemper  the  said  powdered  colour  or  tem* 
pering  for  laying  on  gold,  so  that  it  may  be  soft  and  liquid  like 
good  ink  for  writing,  or  as  it  may  seem  convenient  Having 
done  this,  write,  draw,  and  fill  in  or  paint  whatever  you  wish 
with  it,  and  rather  with  a  paintbrush  than  a  pen,  because  if  it 
were  done  with  a  pen,  and  were  to  become  chilled  in  the  pen,  it 
would  not  flow  so  well  as  witli  a  paintbrush  ;  moreover,  when 
using  a  paintbrush,  the  colour  may  be  held  in  the  hand,  which, 
by  its  warmth  or  heat^  will  not  allow  it  to  congeal ;  this,  how- 
ever, can  also  he  done  well  with  a  pen,  but  a  paintbrush  is 
much  more  convenient  And,  in  painting  with  a  pen,  as  well 
as  with  a  paintbrush,  it  is  a  good  thing  to  keep  the  colour  over 
a  slow  fire  of  charcoal,  at  such  a  warmth,  that  it  may  not  con- 
geal,  but  may  remain  liquid.  Afterwards  let  those  things  dry 
which  you  have  drawn  and  painted,  and  when  they  are  dry 
burnish  them,  that  is,  polish  or  smooth  them  gently  with  a  tooth 
of  a  horse  or  a  boar,  or  with  a  polished  hard  stone  fitted  for  diis 
purpose,  in  order  that  all  the  roughness  may  be  softened  down, 


*  Hence  our  terin$  "  sise  "  and  **  gold  aize« 


»r 


ALGHERIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  DIVERSIS,  Fia  263 

mcberiis  corii  albi  de  quo  fiunt  cbirothecsBy  et  minatiae  perga- 
menorum  etiam  sunt  bonse  ad  hoc,  sed  meliorea  sunt  diet® 
mcisae  corii  albi  quia  faciunt  colam  firmiorem ;  denue  cola  aeu 
aqua  colata  sit  tepida,  died  iepida  ne  sit  conglutinata  quod  si 
ipsa  aqua  sit  qualis  debet  esse  cum  ipsa  erit  fngida  erit  con- 
gelata  in  modum  gelii  galantine  non  multum  duri,  et  hoc 
causa  col«  in  ipsa  aqua  insertse  ex  decoctione  dictarum  minu- 
tiarum  corii  yel  pergameni  facta  in  ipsa  aqua,  qusB  per  frigidum 
oongelatur.  Ideo  tempus  aestatis  in  hoc  multum  prodest,  tarn 
quod  non  permittit  colorem  congelari  neque  frigidari  quam 
quia  iacit  colorem  cito  siccari  cum  positus  est  in  opere.  £t  de 
ipsa  aqua  colata  tepida  debes  ut  dictum  est  distemperare  dic- 
tum colorem  tritum  seu  temperamentum  ad  ponendum  aurum 
taliterquod  sit  mollis  et  liquidus  quantum  est  bonum  incaustum 
ad  acribendum,  vel  ut  conveniens  videbitur.  Et  hoc  facto 
scribe  pertrahe  et  imple  seu  pinge  qu»  vis  ex  eo,  et  potius 
cum  pincello  quam  cum  calamo,  quod  si  fieret  cum  calamo  et 
infrigidaretur  in  calamo,  non  tam  bene  curreret  sicut  facit  cum 
pincello ;  ac  etiam  operando  cum  pincello  potest  ipse  color  ex- 
tendi super  manum,  quae  pro  tepiditate  sua  seu  caliditate  nou 
permittit  ipsum  colorem  congelari,  quod  tamen  potest  etiam 
bene  fieri  cum  calamo  sed  multo  melius  pincello  convenit.  £t 
operando  tam  cum  calamo  quam  cum  pincello,  bonum  est  quod 
color  ipse  teneatur  cum  lento  igne  carbonum  in  tali  tepiditate, 
quod  non  possit  conglutinari,  sed  stet  liquidus ;  et  postea  di- 
mitte  siccari  ex  quae  scripeeris  pinxeris  et  protaxeris  [protraxeris] 
et  quando  siccati  fuerint,  bumias,  id  est  polias  seu  lisses  leni- 
ter  cum  dente  equi  vel  apri,  vel  cum  lapide  duro  polito  ad  hoc 
apto,  ut  adasquentur  omnes  scabrositates  in  ipsis  praecipue  locis 
in  quibus  ipsam  assisam  seu  colorem  posuisti,  deinde  rettera  et 
adbuc  in  ipsis  lods  repone  pinge  et  pertrahe  tanquam  prius 
cum  ipso  colore  et  postea  permitte  siccari  et  adhuc  polies  et 
bumias  ut  prius.  Postea  vero  tertia  reponas  et  repinge  ea 
ipsa  quae  prius  de  eadem  assisia  seu  colore,  sed  fac  quod  ista 


264  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JBHAN  LE  BBGUE. 

particularly  in  those  places  in  which  you  have  put  this  size  or 
colour.  Then  grind  some  more,  and  again  paint  over  and 
draw  upon  those  same  places,  with  this  colour,  as  before,  and 
afterwards  let  it  dry,  and  then  polish  and  burnish  it  as  before. 
Afterwards  go  over  and  repaint  those  places  which  you  did 
before,  with  the  same  mordant  or  colour,  but  let  this  third  and 
last  coat  of  colour  be  tempered  with  white  of  egg  whipped  or 
beaten,  so  as  to  be  liquid  and  without  any  particles  con- 
glutinated  or  adhering  together ;  because  this  white  of  egg 
makes  a  size  or  vehicle  sufBcienUy  strong  to  hold  the  gold 
for  burnishing  and  to  resist  the  shaking  and  violence  of  the 
friction  and  rubbing  the  burnisher  over  the  gold.  Then,  before 
the  colour  on  the  places  in  which  you  put  it,  is  diy,  apply  the 
gold  quickly,  and  allow  it  to  dry,  and  aftierwards  burnish  all 
these  things  with  the  same  tooth,  stone,  or  other  instenment, 
you  used  before  as  above  mentioned,  but  first  pressing  lightly 
and  drawing  the  burnisher  over  the  gold ;  then  rather  harder, 
and  afterwards  harder  still,  particularly  on  parchment,  paper, 
and  panels ;  but  on  cloth  and  sindone  not  pressing  so  hard,  and 
taking  great  care  lest  what  has  been  done  should  crumple  up 
and  be  broken,  and  so  those  things  which  you  drew  and  painted, 
and  upon  which  you  laid  the  gold,  will  remain  clean  and 
polished ;  and  the  forms  and  lines  made  with  this  colour  will 
remain  brightly  gilt. 

But  it  must  be  observed,  that  on  parchment,  paper,  and 
panels  it  is  sufficient  for  the  said  colour  to  be  put  on  once  only, 
tempered  with  size,  and  afterwards,  for  the  last  coat,  with  white 
of  egg,  provided  that  it  is  laid  on  well  the  first  time  when  tem- 
pered with  size.  But  on  cloth  or  sindone  it  is  more  necessary 
that  this  colour  should  be  laid  on  twice,  while  tempered  with 
size,  before  it  is  put  on  for  the  last  coat  tempered  with  white  of 
egg.  And  this  is  because  sindone  and  cloth,  owing  to  their 
porosity,  are  too  absorbent,  flowing,  flexible,  and  unstable,  and 
therefore  soak  up  the  colour,  so  that  there  does  not  remain  a 
good  and  firm  substance  of  colour  upon  the  cloth  or  sindone, 
unless,  as  useful  experience  tells  us,  it  is  laid  on  several  times. 


ALCHEBIUS  D£  COLORIBTJS  DIVEKSIS,  ETC.  265 

tertia  et  ultima  vice  temperatus  sit  ipee  color  de  clara  ovi 
spongiata  aut  rerberata,  ita  quod  sit  liquida  absque  aliquibus 
partibus  conglutinatis  et  sibi  adhaerentibus  quia  ipsa  clara  ovi 
fiicit  ipsam  assisiam  seu  temperam  fortem  satis  ad  tenendum 
aurum  ad  bumissionem  et  ad  strepitum  et  violentiam  fricationis 
et  deductionis  ipsius  super  ipso  auro.  Et  tunc  velociter  ante* 
quam  siccetur  color  in  locis  in  quibus  posueris,  pone  sursum 
aurum  et  sic  permitte  siceari,  et  postea  ea  omnia  bumias  cum 
eodem  dente  lapide  vel  alio  instrumento  quo  prius  ut  supra, 
sed  prime  leniter  premendo  et  trahendo  bumissorem  desuper 
aurum,  postea  aliquantulum  fortius,  et  postea  adhuc  fortius, 
prsBcipue  in  carta  papiro  et  tabulis,  sed  in  telis  et  sindone  non 
tarn  fortiter  et  cum  majori  studio  ne  plicetur  et  diripietur  quod 
&ctum  est,  et  sic  remanebunt  quse  pertraxeris  de  ipso  colore 
pinxeris  et  auro  ut  dictum  est  posueris  purgata  polita  et  ex 
ipsa  deauratura  lucida  juxta  formas  et  pertractiones  ex  dicto 
colore  factas. 

Sed  notandum  est,  quod  in  carta,  papiro,  et  tabulis,  sufBcere 
quod  ponatur  dictus  color  solum  una  vice,  temperatus  cum 
cola  et  postea  idtima  vice  cum  clara  ovi,  dum  bene  ponatur  ad 
primam  vicem  cum  cola  temperatus.  Sed  in  tela  et  sindone 
magis  est  necesse  poni  bis,  prime  cum  cola  temperatus  ipse 
color,  antequam  ultima  vice  ponatur  temperatus  cum  claro 
ovi  etc.,  et  hoc  quod  sindon  et  tela,  pro  raritatibus  eorum  sunt 
nimis  labiles,  decurrentes,  flexibiles,  et  instabiles;  et  ideo 
bibunt  oolorem  ipsum  nisi  pluries,  prout  expediens  experientia 
dooeat,  reponatur  ita  quod  in  superficie  telse  vel  sindonis  non 
remanet  bene  valida  substantia  colons;  neque  etiam  dicta 
flexibilitas  et  ductibilitas  ipsorum,  sindonis  et  telae,  per  ali- 
quern  alium  modum  corrigi  potest,  et  ad  stabilitatem  quandam, 
quam  illis  ex  hoc  causa  viscositatis  et  tenacitatis  cobe  infertur 
redud  potest  Ideo  haberi  debet  etiam  advertentia,  quod  si 
tempus  sit  ventosum,  impedit,  nisi  ponens  aurum  sit  in  loco 
recluso ;  et  si  aer  sit  nimis  siocum,  color  non  bene  capit  aurum ; 
et  si  nimis  humidum,  color  non  tenere  potest  aurum  ad  bur- 
nissorem.     Et  provideatur  etiam  quod  tela  et  sindon  cum  ca-* 


266  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BEOTJE. 

And  this  flexibility  and  instability  of  the  cloth  or  sindone  can 
be  corrected  and  reduced  to  firmness  in  no  other  way  than  by 
the  tenacity  and  viscosity  of  the  glue  laid  over  them  for  this 
purpose.  And  therefore  care  must  be  taken  as  r^aids  the 
situation,  because  windy  weather  is  a  hindrance,  unless  tibe 
gilder  is  in  a  closed  place ;  and  if  the  air  is  too  dry,  the  colour 
docs  not  take  the  gold  well ;  and,  if  too  wet,  the  colour  cannot 
hold  the  gold  under  the  burnisher.  Care  must  also  be  taken 
that  the  linen  or  sindone  which  is  chosen  for  this  purpose  be 
well  woven  and  strong,  and  as  close  in  the  texture  as  pos- 
sible. The  colour  itself  ought  not  to  be  applied  too  thick  or 
too  cold,  lest  by  the  curve  made  in  folding  them  the  colour 
should  scale  off  and  fall  away  along  with  the  gold ;  particularly 
under  the  stroke  of  the  burnisher,  while  the  gold  upon  it,  as 
has  been  already  mentioned,  is  b^i^  burnished ;  and  so  your 
labour  should  be  thrown  away.  And  even  supposing  that  the 
cloth,  edndone,  paper,  or  parchment,  on  which  gold  has  beoi 
laid  in  tlie  manner  hereinbefore  described,  shoiild  be  folded  mto 
slight  creases,  as  frequently  happens  spontaneously  and  by 
chance,  and  unless  they  are  folded  and  rubbed  together,  crack* 
ing  the  priming  by  violent  and  voluntary  force,  the  gold  will 
not  fall  off  or  start  from  the  places  in  which  it  was  laid. 

292.  JFor  laying  an  gold  in  various  wayty  and  iqfon  various 
articlesj  when  it  is  not  to  be  bumiilted — For  laying  gold  on 
parehment,  paper,  cloth,  and  sindone,  with  size  alone,  or  with  a 
mordant  tempered  with  size,  and  this  by  a  short  and  quick  me- 
thod, but  so  that  it  ought  not,  nor  can  be  burnished,  particu* 
larly  on  cloth  and  sindone,  which,  on  account  of  their  flexibility, 
instability,  softness,  and  porosity,  can  ill  bear  the  stroke  and  pres^ 
sure  of  the  biumisher,  nor  can  they  stand  it  so  that  ibe  gold  will 
not  be  spoiled  in  bumidiing ;  and  also  because  the  size  which  is  to 
be  used  for  laying  on  the  gold,  or  for  tempering  the  oolour  cm 
which  the  gold  is  to  be  laid,  is  not  strong  enough  to  hold  the 
gold  against  the  stroke  of  the  burnisher,  as  white  of  egg  would 
be,  if  it  were  tempered  with  white  of  egg.  Take  the  glue  with 
which  bows  and  spears  are  glued,  and  put  it  to  soak  in  cold 


ALCHBRIX7S  DE  COLORIBUS  DIYERSIS,  ETC.  267 

piuntur  pro  operando  aint  bene  texti  et  fortes,  et  minus  rari  in 
eomm  textura  quam  poasunt.  Sed  neque  etiam  debet  ipse 
color  ease  nimis  grossus  seu  spissus  et  fii^dus,  ne  ex  ductu 
plicationuin  contingentium  eis,  nt  necessario  convenit,  cadat  et 
resiliat  color  cum  auro,  et  specialiter  ad  strepitus  bumiasoris, 
quando  aurum  desuper,  ut  dictum  est,  bumitur,  et  quod  sic 
opus  perdatur.  Et  dato  quod  tela,  sindon,  papirus,  et  carta  in 
quibus  positum  erit  aurum  modo  quo  dictum  est  complicentur 
aliquantum  in  rugas  sicut  a  casu  per  se  accidit,  dum  modo 
non  yiolento  et  voluntario  rigore  confringendo  plicentur  et 
fncentur,  aurum  tamen  non  cadit  nee  resilit  a  lods  in  quibus 
positum  est. 


292.  Ad  ponendum  aurum  diversi  mode  super  diversisy  quod 
non  bumiaiur, — Ad  ponendum  aurum  in  carta,  papiro,  tela  et 
in  sindone  cum  cola  tantum  vel  cum  colore  de  cola  temperato 
et  hoc  brevi  modo  et  veloci,  quod  bumiri  non  debeat,  nee  pos- 
sit,  prscipue  in  tela  et  undone  qui  pro  eorum  flexibilitate  duo- 
tibilitate  mollitie  et  raritate  strejntum  et  impressionem  bumis- 
sons  male  sustinent  nee  poesint  pati  quin  bumiendo  aurum  dele-> 
retur,  et  etiam  quia  cola  imponenda  ad  ponendum  aurum  vel  ad 
temperandum  colorem,  de  quo  poni  debet,  non  est  fortis  ad  tenen- 
dum aurum  ad  strepitum  bumissoris  ut  esset  clara  ovi  si  de  clara 
on  distemperetur.  Acdpe  colam  de  qua  colantur  arcus  et  basts 
et  pone  ad  distemperandum  in  aqua  frigida,  et  quum  est  bene 
mollis  pone  ipsam  in  vase  cum  circa  totidem  de  dicta  aqua,  quo* 
tidem  debito  rcspecta  est  colla  et  non  plus,  et  pone  ad  ignem 


268  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOUS. 

water,  and  when  it  is  well  softened  put  it  into  a  yase  with  about 
an  equal  quantity  of  the  said  water,  that  is,  as  much  as  the  glue 
requires,  and  no  more,  and  put  it  on  the  fire  so  as  not  to  boil, 
but  only  keep  hot,  until  the  glue  is  dissolyed  in  the  water,  or  is 
melted,  and  incorporated  with  the  water.  And  having  done 
this,  not  allowing  the  glue  to  cool,  but  keeping  it  at  a  mod«*ate 
heat  with  a  slow  fire,  for  fear  it  should  be  congealed,  so  that  it 
could  not  be  used,  write  and  draw  whateyer  you  wish  with  this 
glue,  upon  a  linen  or  other  cloth,  or  upon  sindone,  or  eyen  on 
parchment,  or  paper,  with  a  soft  pen,  or  a  small  paintbrush 
of  hogs'  bristles,  which  brush  must  be  obtuse,  that  is,  must 
have  short  bristles  which  are  stiff  or  hard,  that  is  to  say, 
like  those  which  are  used  to  mark  the  canvass  upon  bales 
of  goods  with  ink ;  and  write,  fill  in,  or  paint,  and  draw  any 
letters  or  other  broad  designs,  whatever  they  may  be,  with  the 
said  stiff  and  blunt  paintbrush.  But  if  you  are  working  on  fine 
cloths  or  sindone,  and  on  parchment  and  paper,  it  is  better  for 
the  paintbrush  to  be  made  of  the  hairs  of  the  tails  of  minever, 
blunt  or  pointed  as  you  see  best,  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
work  you  have  to  do.  When  you  have  done  this,  leave  it  to 
dry,  and  afterwards  with  the  same  glue  go  again  over  those  things 
which  were  drawn  before,  particularly  on  cloth  and  sindone, 
which  usually  absorb  the  first  coat  of  size  so  strongly,  that 
scarcely  any  of  it  remains  upon  the  surface  to  hold  the  gold 
which  is  to  be  laid  on  them.  It  is  therefore  proper  to  lay  it  on 
twice,  if  it  should  seem  necessary ;  afterwards  at  the  last  coat, 
before  the  letters  and  drawings  are  dry,  apply  the  gold  and 
allow  them  to  dry.  And  know,  that  if  the  cloth,  sindone,  paper, 
and  parchment,  on  which  the  gold  is  laid  in  the  above  men- 
tioned manner,  are  folded  into  a  crease,  and  rubbed,  as  some^ 
times  happens  accidentally,  and  not  by  violent  and  voluntary 
force,  yet  the  gold  laid  on  in  this  manner  will  not  fall  off,  or  be 
spoiled.  This  is  because  the  size,  with  which  the  gold  is  lud 
on,  or  with  which  the  mordant  is  tempered,  if  a  mordant  is 
used,  makes  the  mordant  itself  less  rigid  and  more  flexible  and 
yielding,,  by  reason  of  its  soft  condition  and  nature,  than  the 
white  of  egg,  which  is  firmer  and  stiffen 


ALCHSRinS  DE  COLORIBUS  DIVERSIS,  ETC.  269 

ita  quod  non  bulliat  sed  solum  calefiat,  usque  ad  hoc  quod  coUa 
fundatur  in  aqua  seu  sit  liquefacta  et  iucorporata  cum  aqua. 
£t  hoc  facto,  non  permittendo  infrigidari  colam,  sed  tenendo 
ipsam  ad  temperatam  caliditatem  cum  lento  igne,  ne  congluti- 
netnr,  ita  quod  de  ipsa  possit  operari,  scribe  et  pertrahe  quod 
vis  de  ipsa  cola  super  telam  lineam  vel  aliam,  vel  super  sindo- 
nem,  aut  etiam  super  papirum,  aut  pergamenum,  seu  cartam 
cum  calamo  non  duro  vel  cum  pincello  parvo  setarum  porci,  qui 
pincellus  sit  obtusus,  id  est,  habeat  setas  curtas  ut  sint  rigidse 
seu  dnrae,  viz.,  sicut  sunt  pincelli  ad  signandum  balas  mercium 
super  earum  cavenatiis  [canevatiis  ?]  cum  incausto ;  et  scribe^ 
imple,  seu  pinge  et  pertrahe,  quascumque  literas  et  alias  per- 
tractiones  grossas,  quasque  sint,  fac  cum  dicto  pincello  sicrigido 
et  obtuso.  Sed  si  operaris  in  telis  subtilibus  ;  vel  in  sindone,  et  in 
carta,  aut  in  papiro,  melius  est  quod  pincellus  sit  de  pilis  cau- 
darum  vayrorum,  obtusus  vel  acutus  secundum  quod  videbia 
magis  convenire  juxta  qualitatem  operum  faciendorum.  £t 
hoc  facto  dimittas  siccari,  postea  de  eadem  cola  rescribe  et  re- 
imple  itemm  semel,  et  repertrahe  quae  pertracta  jam  fuerant ; 
specialiter  super  telam  et  sindonem  quae  solent  lambere  tarn 
fortiter  primam  colam,  quod  de  ipsa  quasi  nil  remanet  in  super- 
ficie  eorum  quo  possit  aurum  desuper  ponendum  teneri.  Ideo 
advertatur  de  ponendo  vis  si  necesse  videatur,  et  postea,  ad 
ultimam  vicem,  antequam  siccentur  Uterse  et  pertractiones  pone 
aurum  desuper  et  dimitte  siccari.  £t  scias,  quod  dato  quod 
tela,  sindon,  papirus,  et  carta,  ubi  positum  erat  aurum  modo 
supradicto,  complicentur  in  rigam  et  firicentur  sicut  accidit  a 
casu,  et  non  cum  rigore  violento  et  voluntario,  tamen  aurum 
illo  modo  positum,  non  cadit,  seu  non  vastatur,  etiam  quia  cola 
qua  positum  est  aurum,  vel  qua  temperatus  est  color  de  quo 
positum  est  aurum  si  de  colore  ponatur,  reddit  colorem  ipsum 
magis  flexibilem,  non  rigidum,  et  consentientem  contingentibus 
flexionibus  ex  sua  moUi  conditione  et  natura,  quam  facit  clara 
ovi  quae  fortior  et  rigidior  est 


270  MANU8CRIPT8  OF  JHBHAK  LB  BEOXnEC: 


293.  A  good  ro$e  colour  for  linen  elothf  iindonBj  parck- 
mentj  or  paper j  and  primed  panels,  is  made  in  this  way. — 
Take  brasilium  rasped  or  scraped  with  a  knife,  or  with  g^ass, 
pounded  in  a  mortar ;  but  it  is  much  better  to  hare  it  scraped ; 
then  let  it  be  put  with  a  little  raw  alum  in  powder  into  a 
ley,  or  into  urine.  Hien  make  it  boil  for  a  long  time  over 
a  charcoal  fire,  not  a  wood  fire,  lest  by  chance  the  smoke, 
which  the  wood  makes,  should  spoil  the  colour.  Afterwards 
let  it  be  strained  through  a  linen  doth,  retaining  in  tfie 
cloth  the  substance  of  the  wood  Inrasilium,  lest  it  should  be 
mixed  with  the  colour  that  is  to  be  made,  and  then  let  it  be  put 
into  a  glazed  jar  with  white  chalk  or  gersa  [gesso],  in  powder, 
or  with  powdered  bracha  [biacha — ^biacca],  irfiich  is  otherwise 
called  white  lead,  otherwise  ceruse,  otherwise  Spanish  white ; 
and  let  it  be  allowed  to  incorporate  with  the  said  chalk  or  ceruse. 
Next  let  it  be  groimd  altogether  upob  a  hard  stone  without  add- 
ing water  or  urine,  on  the  contrary,  keeinng  it  as  little  liquid, 
i.e.,  as  thick  as  it  can  be  ground ;  and  although  it  should  be  less 
liquid  than  it  was  at  the  beginning  before  it  was  ground,  and 
yet  not  sufficiently  thickened  in  the  grinding,  because  the  water 
of  the  ley  or  the  urine  had  not  been  sufficiently  poured  off  or 
dried ;  let  the  colour  be  put  to  dry  upon  a  hollow  stone  of  chalk 
or  gersa,  or  upon  a  concave  brick  made  of  day,  and  baked  in 
the  furnace,  which  will  immediately  absorb  the  moisture  of  the 
ley,  so  that  the  colour  remains  suddenly  almost  dry,  t.e.,  inspis- 
sated. Afterwards  let  the  odour  be  put  away ;  and  when  it 
is  necessary  to  use  it,  take  whatever  is  wanted  of  it  and 
temper  it  with  white  of  egg,  or  with  gum  water  made  of  gum 
arable,  in  the  way  dnnabar  is  used.  But  if  it  is  used  with 
white  of  egg,  it  shines  where  it  is  used,  and  is  more  beauti- 
ful. And  write  and  draw  and  paint  with  this  cdour  what- 
ever is  wanted  on  parchment,  and  primed  panels,  as  well 
with  the  pen  as  with  the  paintbrush.  And  the  leas  ceruse 
or  chalk  there  is  in  it  the  darker  will  be  the  colour ;  and  so^ 
on  the  other  hand,  the  more  there  is  of  it  the  lighter  the  colour 
will  be. 


ALCHERIUS  BE  COLORIBUS  DIVBRSI5,  ETC.  271 

293.  Color  rasm  bonus  in  tela  linea^  sindane,  papiroy  ferga^ 
meno^  seu  carta  et  in  tabutis  dealbatisjit  hoc  modo. — ^Accipe  bri- 
siliom  raspatum  seu  rasum  cum  cultello  yel  cum  vitro  aut  pis- 
turn  in  mortario^  sed  multo  melius  tamea  est  habere  rasum ; 
deinde  cum  pauco  alumiuis  crudi  pulverizati  ponatur  in  lezivio 
vel  in  urina  hominis  ebriatoris  quae  optima  est,  et  melior  est 
Vetera  et  diu  facta  quam  nova.  £t  fac  bullire  diu  ad  ignem 
carbonum ;  non  lignorum,  ne  fumus  quem  ligna  fieununt  vastet 
adorem.  £t  postea  ooletur  dictus  color  ita  callidus  per  telam 
lineam,  dimittendo  in  tela  substanciam  ligni  brisilii  ne  immis- 
ceatur  colori  fiiciends,  postea  ponatur  in  vase  vitreato  cum 
creta  seu  gersa  alba  pulverizata  vel  cum  bracha  pulverizata 
qu»  aUter  dicitur  album  plumbum  aliter  cerusa,  atque 
aliter  album  Hispanise,  et  dimittatur  incorporari  cum  ipsa 
creta  vel  cerosio.  Et  postea  teratur  totum  simul  super  lapi^^ 
dem  durum  absque  addendo  aquam  nee  urinam  ymo  minus 
liquidum,  i.e.,  magis  spissum  quam  teri  poterit  vel  possit; 
deinde  si  minus  liquidus  erit  quam  sic  esset  a  prindpio  ante- 
quam  tereretur,  et  quod  terendo  non  satis  inspissatus  fuerit, 
quod  aquositas  lexivii  vel  urinse  non  erat  satis  comminuta  et 
desiccata  ponatur  ad  siccandum  super  concava  lapide  cretae  vel 
gersae  aut  super  latere  concavo  facto  de  terra  et  cocto  in  fomace, 
qui  subitobibunt  humiditatem  lexivii  taliterquod  remanet  color 
subito  quasi  siccus,  viz.,  inspissatos.  Postea  reponatur  et  quando 
oportet  operari  accipiant  de  illo  quantum  necesse  sit,  et  distem- 
peretur  cum  clara  ovi  vel  cum  aqua  gummata  de  gummi  arabioo 
ut  distemperatur  cinobrium.  Sed  si  distemperatur  cum  daro 
ovi,  relucet  cum  in  opere  est,  et  pulcrior  est.  £t  scribantur 
ex  eo  et  pertrahantur  ac  pngantur  in  carta  in  papiro  et  in  tabu- 
lis  dealbatis  de  ipso  colore,  quae  velint  tam  cum  calamo  quam 
cum  pincello.  £t  quanto  erit  in  ipso  minus  de  cerusa  aut  de 
creta,  tanto  erit  color  plus  obscurus ;  et  quanto  plus,  sic  con- 
verso  magis  clams. 


272  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEUAN  LE  BBGT7E. 

294.  A  blue  colour^  that  t«,  €unirej  which  is  not  ultramarine, 
nor  is  it  so  beautiful,  but  which  is  good  an  linen,  sindane, 
parchment,  or  paper,  and  primed  panels,  that  is  panels  covered 
with  gersa, — ^Take  fine  indigo,  which  is  called  by  the  name 
of  Bagadel,  and  Spanish  white,  otherwise  called  ceruse  or 
blacha,  and  mix  both  together,  and  grind  them  on  a  hard 
stone,  with  white  of  egg  beaten  and  mixed  with  pure  water,  or 
with  gum  water,  made  with  gum  Arabic,  and  in  the  manner  in 
which  sinobrium,  that  is,  sinopis  is  ground  when  alone.  When 
it  is  ground,  temper  it  in  a  shell  or  a  horn  with  the  cleai*  part 
of  beaten  white  of  egg,  not  mixed  with  water,  as  has  been 
already  directed  for  the  rose  colour,  and  write  or  draw  what- 
ever you  want  with  this  colour.  This  is  the  way  in  which  it 
must  be  made  if  you  wish  to  use  it  immediately.  But  if  you 
do  not  want  this  colour  for  immediate  use,  but  vnsh  to  keep  it, 
you  must  not  add  any  egg  or  gum  water  to  it  when  you  grind 
it  on  the  stone,  but  only  mix  it  with  pure  and  clean  water ;  and 
when  it  is  ground  up  with  water,  let  it  dry  up  or  ins^nssate 
upon  a  brick  of  baked  clay,  or  a  hollow  stone  of  white  chalk, 
which  immediately  absorbs  the  moisture  in  such  a  manner,  that 
the  colour  remains  thickened  and  like  juice,  and  afterwards 
allow  it  to  dry  completely  in  the  shade,  or  in  the  sun,  and  put 
it  away  and  preserve  it  And  when  you  wish  to  use  it^  take 
some  of  it  and  temper  it  in  a  shell  or  a  horn,  with  white  of  egg 
not  mixed  with  water,  or  even  with  the  said  gum  water,  and 
make  it  of  a  reasonable  and  moderate  softness  or  liquidity,  ac- 
cording to  what  is  required  for  the  work  you  intend  to  do  with 
it,  and  just  as  you  would  do  with  sinopis.  And  the  lighter  or 
less  dark  you  require  it,  the  more  blacha  or  ceruse  you  must 
mix  with  it ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  darker  you  wish  it, 
the  less  you  must  put  of  the  said  ceruse,  that  is,  white-lead, 
that  is  to  say,  while  you  are  grinding  the  colour  upon  the 
stone. 

295.  To  make  letters  of  a  green  colour,  and  to  draw  and 
paint  all  other  things  on  linen,  parchment,  or  paper,  primed 
panels,  and  sindone. — ^Take  fine  indigo,   called   Bagadel,  and 


ALCHERIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  DIVERSIS.  273 

294.  Color  Mauetus  id  est  celestisj  qui  rum  est  de  huuriOj  nee 
tarn  pulcheTy  et  est  bonus  in  tela  linea^  sindone,  papirOy  perga-' 
meno  sen  carta  et  in  tabuHs  dealbatisy  id  est  gersaiis. — Acdpe 
Indicmn  finmn  qui  cognomine  bagadellus  vocatur,  et  de  albo 
hispanise  aliter  cerusium  vel  blacham^  et  misce  ambo  simul  et 
tere  super  lapidem  durum  cum  claro  ovi  spon^ato  et  mixto 
aqua  clara,  aut  cum  aqua  gummata  de  gummi  arabico,  et  ad 
modum  quo  teritur  anobrium  solum,  id  est  sinopis ;  et  post- 
quam  erit  tritum,  distempera  in  conchilla  vel  in  comato  cum 
daro  oyi  spongia  liquidate,  non  mixtum  aqua  ut  dictum  est 
antea  de  colore  ross,  et  scribe  et  pertrahe  quae  vis  cum  ipso 
colore.  Et  hie  est  modus  quo  fieri  debet,  voleudo  ipsum  de 
praesenti  ponere  in  opere.  Sed  si  non  vis  ipsum  colorem  de 
praesenti  ponere  in  opere  et  quod  velis  ipsum  servare,  debes 
isto  modo  nxdlum  ovum  nee  aquam  gummatum  ponere  quum 
ipsum  teris  super  lapidem,  ymo  solum  ponas  de  aqua  munda 
pura  et  simplid,  et  cum  tritum  sit  cum  aqua,  fac  ipsum  siccari 
▼el  inspissari  super  laterem  terrse  coctum  aut  super  laterem 
coctae  albae  concavum  qui  subito  bibit  bumiditatem  aquse  taliter, 
quod  remanet  color  subito  inspissatus  et  quasi  succus ;  et  postea 
desiccari  penitus  permittas  ad  imibram  aut  ad  solem  et  repone 
et  serya.  Et  cum  vis  operari  accipe  de  ipso  et  distempera  in 
conchilla  vel  in  cometo  cum  claro  ovi  non  mixto  aqua,  vel 
etiam  mixto  vel  cum  dicta  aqua  gummata,  et  fac  ipsum  de  ra- 
tionabili  et  moderata  mollitie,  sen  liquidate  secundum  quod 
requiritur  infadendo  ea  quae  vis  de  ipso  facere  et  sicut  de  sino^ 
pide  faceres.  Et  quanto  vis  clariorem  sen  minus  obscurum, 
tanto  pone  plus  de  blacha  seu  cerosio ;  et  e  converse,  quanto  vis 
magis  obscurum,  pone  minus  de  dicto  cerosio,  id  est  de  albo 
plumbo,  scilicet  quando  teres  ipsum  colorem  super  lapidem. 


295.  Ad  faciendum  literas  viridis  cohris  et  ad  protrahendum 
et  pingendum  omnia  alia  in  tela  in  papiro  in  carta  seu  perga- 
meno  in  tabulis  ligneis  dealbatis  et  in  sindane. — Accipe  Indicum 

VOL.  r.  T 


274  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BfiOUE. 

orpiment,  and  mix  and  grind  Aem  together  upon  a  hard  stone 
with  clear  water  from  a  well  or  a  spring,  and  it  will  be  a  green 
colour,  and  the  lighter  you  require  it,  the  more  orpiment 
you  must  add ;  and  the  darker  you  require  it,  the  less  orpiment 
you  must  put,  and  the  more  indigo.    When  you  have  ground 
it  very  fine,  let  it  dry ;  and  if  it  is  put  upon  a  stone  of  white 
chalk,  that  is  gersa,  or  upon  a  clay  bride  baked  in  the  furnace, 
and  concave  so  that  it  may  hold  the  colour,  tbe  moisture  will 
directly  dry  up  or  be  absorbed  into  the  stone,  and  the  colour 
itself  will  remain  hard  and  thick,  and  you  may  then  allow  it  to 
dry  by  itself,  and  when  it  is  dry,  put  it  away  and  keep  it  And 
when  you  wish  to  use  it,  take  as  much  as  you  want  of  it,  and 
put  it  into  a  horn,  or  into  a  shell  which  is  found  in  fi-esh  water, 
or  even  a  sea-shell  that  is  fit  for  this  purpose,  and  temper  it 
with  white  of  egg,  or  with  gum  water,  as  is  done  with  sinc^is, 
and  with  it  write  and  draw  whatever  you  like,  in  the  same 
manner  as  is  done  with  vermilion  or  sinopis.    But  if,  omitting 
and  not  putting  the  indigo,  you  mix  fine  ultramarine  with  the 
said  orpiment  instead  of  indigo,  you  will  have  a  much  finer 
green. 

296.  7b  prepare  parchment^  or  paper^  primed  pamk, 
and  linen,  eo  that  you  may  be  able  to  draw  upon  them  in  blacky 
with  a  pencil  or  stile  of  gold,  silver,  bronze,  or  brcus,  as  is  done 
upon  panels  of  boxwood  whitened  or  covered  with  bane  or  stages' 
horn  burnt  and  whitened  in  the  fire. — Take  bones  of  any  animal 
or  bird,  or  stag's-hom,  which  is  better,  and  bum  it,  and  make 
it  white  and  friable  and  soft  by  long  and  violent  boiling,  and 
afterwards  grind  it  upon  a  hard  stone  with  pure  water.  Then 
put  it  on  a  brick  of  baked  clay  or  of  white  chalky  that  the 
moisture  may  enter  into  it,  and  that  the  bone  may  remain 
thickened  and  almost  dry.  Remove  it  irom  the  stone,  and 
bum  it  a  second  time  in  a  charcoal  fire,  and  make  it  perfectly 
white  and  fine  in  a  crucible  in  which  silver  or  gold  is  usually 
melted,  and  afterwards,  that  it  may  be  made  still  more  fine 
and  white,  grind  it  a  second  time  upon  a  stone  with  water, 
in  the  same  way  as  you  did  before ;  and  thmi  if  you  wish  to  use 


ALCHERIUS  DE  C0L0BIBU8  DIVERSIS.  275 

finum  quod  bagadellum  nommatoTy  et  auripigmentanii  et  misce 
et  tere  simul  super  lajndem  durum,  cum  aqua  putei  yel  fontis 
clara  et  erit  color  yiridis.  Et  quanto  volueris  ipeum  magis 
danim,  pone  magis  de  auripigmento.  £t  quanto  magis  obecu- 
rum  pooe  minus  de  dicto  auripigmento  et  plus  de  Indico.  £t 
cum  tritus  sit  valde  subtiliter,  pone  ad  siccandum,  et  si  po- 
natur  super  lapidem  album  crets  i.  e.  gersee  aut  super  laterem 
de  iem,  ooctum  in  fomace  et  concavum  ita  quod  capax  sit 
colorisy  subito  aquositas  siccabitur  seu  intrabit  in  ipso  lapide  et 
color  remanebit  durus  et  sjmssus,  et  postea  permittas  per  se 
siccari  et  cum  dccus  sit  repone  et  serva.  ~  £t  quando  vis  de 
ipso  operari,  acdpe  quantum  yis  de  ipso  et  pone  in  comu  vel 
in  concfailla  quae  reperitur  in  aquis  dulcibus  vel  etiam  in  man 
apta  ad  hoc  et  distempera  cum  claro  ovi,  aut  cum  aqua  gum* 
mata  ut  fit  sinopis,  et  de  illo  scribe  pinge  et  pertrahe  quae  vis 
ut  fit  de  vermiculo  seu  sinopide.  Sed  si  cum  dicto  auropig- 
mento,  loco  ladid,  prsemisso  Indico  et  non  posito,  misceris 
finum  azurium  multo  pulcriorem  riridem  habebis. 


296.  Ad  eqftandum  papirumj  et  pergamenum^  seucatiam,  ta- 
bulas  ligneat  et  tehwij  modo  quo  paseis  super  ipeae  protrahere 
nigrOy  atm  groseio  seu  stilo  auri^  argentic  latoms^  vel  (Bris^  sicut 
super  tabulas  busuli  deaJbatas  seu  intinctas  cum  osse  vel  camu 
eervi  cambusto  et  dealbato  in  igne. — ^Accipe  de  osse  cujusvis  ani- 
malls  yel  avis,  aut  de  comu  cervi,  quod  melius  est,  et  arde 
illud  et  albifica  et  tritibilem  et  dulcem  facies  longa  et  forti  de- 
coctione,  postea  tere  super  duro  lapide  cum  aqua  clara ;  postea 
pones  super  latere  terrse  coctse,  aut  cret»  albee,  ut  in  ipso 
entret  humiditas  et  inspissetur  et  remaneat  ut  quasi  siccum : 
postea  eleya  a  lapide,  et  iterum  in  ignem  carbonem  secundo 
deooque  et  perfectisrime  albifica  et  subtilem  £Gunes.  illud  in  cru- 
sibulo  in  quo  solet  fondi  argentum  vel  aurum ;  postea  ut  iterum 
ma^  subtilietur  et  dealbetur,  tere  illud  secundo  super  lapidem 
cum  aqua  ut  prius  feceras ;  deinde  si  prompte  vis  operare,  de 
ipso  distempera  quantum  velis  in  oondulla  vd  in  scutella  figuli 

t2 


276  MANUSCBIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

it  immediately,  wet  up  as  much  of  it  as  you  require  in  a  shell 
or  a  glazed  earthen  jar,  with  size  made  from  glue  or  from  clip- 
pings of  white  leather  or  parchment,  and  which  must  be  of  a 
moderate  consistence  and  warmth.  Haying  done  this  as  di-^ 
rected,  paint  or  draw  with  it,  with  a  broad  paint-brush,  upon 
paper  which  has  been  polished  with  a  boar's  tooth.  Also  lay 
it  over  parchment,  cloth,  sindone,  and  wooden  panels,  and 
permit  it  to  dry.  And  then,  if  the  iSrst  coat  is  not  sufficient  ibr 
it  (which  may  be  known  by  drawing  on  it  with  a  stile  of  brass, 
or  bronze,  or  copper,  or  still  better  of  diver,  and  seeing  whether 
it  makes  black  marks  or  not),  you  must  give  it  another  coat  of 
the  said  bone-dust,  keeping  it  warm  in  the  vase  in  which  it 
stands  over  a  slow  fire,  particularly  in  winter,  lest  it  should  be 
congealed  by  the  cold,  on  account  of  the  glue  with  which  it  is 
mixed,  which  hardens  with  cold ;  afterwards  let  it  dry,  and  try 
it  again  by  drawing  upon  it  with  a  stile  as  before.  And  so  you 
must  apply  this  bone  or  horn  as  many  times  as  you  see  neces- 
sary, though  it  is  true  that  the  second  coat  usually  suffices, 
and  frequently  the  first.  And  note,  that  if  you  wish  the  paper, 
after  it  is  thus  painted,  to  be  very  smooth  and  polished  and  with- 
out any  inequalities  or  roughnesses,  that  it  may  be  better  to 
draw  upon,  you  must  polish  and  burnish  it,  holding  it  under 
another  paper  not  painted  on,  upon  which  you  must  rub  a  boar's 
tooth,  or  a  hard  and  polished  stone,  or  any  other  instrument  fit 
for  burnishing.  And  know,  that  if  you  wish  to  make  this  pre- 
paration of  various  colours,  it  is  necessary,  while  grinding  the 
horn  or  bone  upon  the  said  stone,  and  wetting  it  in  a  shell  or  a 
glazed  earthen  vessel,  when  you  wish  to  paint  the  paper,  that 
you  should  mix  with  the  horn  or  bone  whatever  colours  you 
wish,  separately,  which  must  however  be  ground  very  fine  upon 
the  said  stone  with  pure  water.  Afterwards,  if  any  of  the  said 
ham  remain,  whether  white  or  coloured,  it  can  be  preserved, 
because,  although  what  remdois  becomes  dry  by  keeping,  it  may 
still  be  of  use  to  lay  upon  other  paper,  like  any  other  colours, 
by  being  wetted  up  with  pure  water,  not  sized ;  because, 
although  the  water  of  the  first  wetting  dries  up,  yet  the  glue  of 


ALCUERIUS  DB  COLORIBUS  DIVEBSIS.  277 

vitriata,  cum  aqua  colata  de  cola  seu  de  incisuris  corii  albi  vol 
pergameni,  et  quod  sit  colata  moderato  modo  et  tepida.  His 
itaque  talimodo  &ctis  pinge  vel  pertrahe  de  ipso  cum  pincello 
grosso  super  papyrum  quod  primo  sit  lissatum  cum  dente  apri. 
Item  pinge  de  eo  pergamenum  telam  sindonem  et  tabulas  lig- 
neas,  et  permitte  siccari ;  postea,  si  prima  depinctio  facta  non 
suffidt,  quod  scitur  protrahendo  desuper  cum  stilo  asris  vel 
latonis  aut  cupri  ;  et  melior  esset  de  argento ;  si  non  bene  per- 
trahit  nigros  tractus.  Quod  si  sic  sit  debes  iterum  repingere 
de  eodem  osse,  tenendo  ipsum  tepidum  in  vase  in  quo  est  lento 
igni,  praecipue  si  sit  in  hyeme  ne  conglutinetur  ex  frigore  pro 
cola  qua  temperatus  est,  et  quae  pro  firigore  induratur ;  postea 
dimitte  siccari  et  iterum  tempta  protrahendo  desuper  cum  stilo 
ut  prius.  Ita  sic  ipsum  ossem  vel  comu  totiens  ponas  quotiens 
Yidebis  esse  necessarium,  dato  quod  verum  est  quod  si  secunda 
Tice  pingatur,  solet  sufficere  et  multotiens  pro  prima.  £t  nota 
quod  si  velis  ipsum  papirum  postquam  taliter  pictus  sit  esse 
valde  politum  et  equale  absque  fossulis  et  scabrositatibus  ut 
melior  sit  ad  protrahendum  super,  ipsum  lisses  et  bumias  te- 
nendo ipsum  sub  uno  alio  papiro  non  picto  super  quem  trahes 
imprimendo  dentem  apri,  aut  lapidem  durum  politum,  aut 
aliud  instrumentum  ad  bumiendum  aptum.  Et  scias  quod  si 
de  diversis  coloribus  ipsas  depictiones  facere  veUs,  oportet  quod 
terendo  comu  yel  osse  super  dictum  lapidem  distemperando 
illud  in  conchilla  vel  scutella  figuli  vitriata,  quando  papirum 
vel  cartam  vis  pingere,  quod  in  ipso  comu  vel  osse  misceas 
separatim  quales  colores  velis,  tritos  tamen  ut  subtiliores  super 
lapidem  cum  aqua  clara.  Postea  si  de  dicto  comu  tam  albo 
quam  de  coloribus  remanent  partes  ills  residus  possunt  ser- 
vari,  quia  dato  quod  resedentiae  postea  stando  siccentur,  possunt 
tamen  sicut  est  de  omnibus  aliis  coloribus  adhuc  alias  valere  ad 
ponendum  in  opere,  scilicet  distemperata  cum  aqua  clara  non 
colata ;  quia  dato  quod  aqua  primae  distemperaturae  sit  desic- 
cata,  tamen  iterum  remanet  ibidem  cola  ipsius  primae  distem- 
perationis,  quae  sufficit;  quia  in  exhalatione  et  desiccatione 
aquositatis  primae  distemperaturae,  non  frustrata  nee  exalata 


278  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JBHAN  LE  BE6UB. 

the  first  wetting  still  remains  there,  and  in  suffident  quantity ; 
for  in  the  exhalation  and  evaporation  of  the  moisture  of  the 
first  wetting,  the  strength  or  substance  of  the  glue  is  not  ex- 
haled or  evaporated,  but  only  the  water.  And  if  any  of  the 
first  quantity  of  bone  or  horn,  not  mixed  with  any  colour  or 
glue  remains  in  the  vase,  shell,  or  saucer,  you  may  put  it  on  a 
lump  of  chalk,  or  on  a  brick  of  baked  clay,  that  the  water 
which  is  contained  in  it  may  be  dried  up,  and  may  be  exposed 
to  the  air  or  the  sun,  that  it  may  dry  completely ;  and  after- 
wards, when  you  wish  to  use  it,  you  must  temper  it  with  size 
as  originally  directed,  as  there  is  not  any  size  or  glue  mixed 
with  it.  You  can  also  colour  it  with  various  colours,  mixing 
them  with  it,  as  before,  according  to  your  taste,  as  above  msia- 
iioned.  And  note,  that  if  you  have  no  stag's-hom,  the  hemes 
of  the  stag  are  good,  as  also  those  of  any  other  animal  or  bird, 
as  has  been  already  menti(med. 


ALCHEBIUS  DE  COLOBIBUS  DIVEBSIS.  279 

est  virtus  nee  substantia  colae,  sed  solum  aqua.  £t  si  de  primo 
esse  vel  comu  non  mixto  de  colore  uUo  et  in  quo  non  est  cola 
remanebit  ulla  pars  in  rase  seu  scutella  vel  in  concbilla,  potes 
ipsum  ponere  super  lapidem  cretae,  aut  super  laterem  terrae 
coctSy  ut  siccetur  aqua  quse  4n  ipso  est  et  reponere  ad  aerem 
vel  ad  solem,  ut  ex  toto  desiccetur,  et  postea  quum  de  ipso 
eges  ad  operandum,  debes  iUud  distemperare  cum  aqua  colata 
ut  prius  dictum  est.  £x  hoc  quia  in  ipso  non  fiierat  umquam 
cola  seu  aqua  ulla  colata.  £t  potes  etiam  colare  illud  de 
diversis  coloribus,  ut  prius  comndscendo  eos  in  ipso  ad  libitum 
tuum,  ut  dictum  est  supra.  £t  nota,  quod  si  non  babes  comu 
cerviy  pro  faciendo  quod  dictum  est,  bona  sunt  ossa  sua  et 
etiam  ut  supra  est  declaratum  ossa  aliorum  animalium  et 
avium. 


(    280     ) 


A  TREATISE  UPON  YARIOUS  COIOURS, 


AND  FIBST   THE 


INTRODUCTION. 


297.  In  the  year  of  the  CircumcisioD  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  1398,  on  Thursday,  the  8th  day  of  Au- 
gust, Johannes  Alcherius  wrote,  and  noted  down,  at 
Paris,  in  the  house  of  Anthonio  de  Compendio,  an  illu- 
minator of  books,  and  an  old  man,  according  to  the 
words  told  him  by  the  said  Anthonius,  who,  as  he  said, 
had  tried,  during  the  whole  time  of  his  life,  all  the  fol- 
lowing recipes,  namely,  the  following  chapters  concern- 
ing colours  for  illuminating  books.  And  afterwards,  in 
the  year  1411,  in  the  month  of  December,  the  same 
Johannes,  who  had  then  returned  more  than  one  year 
from  Lombardy,  namely,  from  Bologna,  where  there 
was  a  curia  apostolica  newly  united,  corrected  them  in 
many  places,  according  to  further  information,  which  he 
subsequently  received  by  means  of  several  authentic 
books  treating  of  such  subjects,  and  otherwise;  and 
copied  them  fairly  as  follows : — 

298.  For  laying  gold  upon  various  articles,  so  that  it  mag 
be  burnished^  and  various  cautions  concerning  it^  for  illumi" 
noting. — To  lay  gold  on  parchment,  or  paper,  and  on  wooden 
panels  primed  with  white  chalk,  which  gold  may  be  burnished 
or  polished.  Take  gersa,  or  white  chalk,  and  a  littfe  ocra  de 
ru,  equal  to  one-third  part  of  the  chalk,  and  pound  them  both 
together,  and  grind  as  thick  as  you  can,  i.  e.  with  little  water, 


(     281     ) 


DE  DIYERSIS  COLORIBUS 

IN  SEQOENTI  TRACTATP, 

£T   PRIMO   MODUS    FROHEMIL 

297.  Anno  circumcision  is  domini  Jesu  Christi  1398 
die  Jovis  octavo  Augusti,  Johannes  Alcerius  scripsit  et 
notavit  in  Parisiis  in  domo  Anthonii  de  Compendio  il- 
luminatoris  librorum,  antiqui  hominis,  a  verbis  quae  ipse 
Anthonius  sibi  dixit.  Et  qui  omnia  qus  sequuntur  ten- 
taverat  toto  tempore  vitae  suae,  ut  dixit,  de  coloribus 
scilicet  ad  illuminandum  libros,  sequentia  capitula.  Et 
postea  anno  1411  de  mense  decembris,  idem  Johannes 
qui  jam  per  plusquam  annum  reversus  fuerat  a  partibus 
Lombardiae^  viz.,  a  Bononia,  ubi  erat  curia  apostolica 
noviter  unita,  correxit  in  pluribus  partibus  ea,  secundum 
plures  informationes  quas  inde  postea  per  plures  libros 
autentiquos  de  talibus  narrantes,  et  aliter  habuerat,  et 
rescripsit  ea  ad  nettum  ut  sequitur. 


298.  Ad  ponendum  aurum  super  diversis  quod  bumiaturj  et 
de  diversis  cautelis  viendis  super  fwc^  illumiruindo. — ^Ad  ponen- 
dum  aurum  in  papiro,  in  pergameno,  seu  carta,  et  in  tabulis 
ligneis,  creta  alba  dealbatis,  quod  aurum  bumiatur  seu  polia- 
tur.  Acdpe  gersam  seu  cretam  albam  et  modicum  ocraB  de 
ru,  per  tertiam  partem  quantitatis  cretae  et  totum  simul  sub- 
tilia,  et  lere  cum  aqua  clara  magis  spissum  quam  poteris. 


2S2  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUK 

upon  a  smooth  hard  stone,  with  a  muller  also  made  of  stone. 
Afterwards  put  the  colour,  which  is  otherwise  called  the  tem- 
pera or  size  of  the  gold,  in  a  shell  or  a  glazed  earthen  saucer, 
or  a  glass  vase.  And  when  you  wish  to  use  it,  take  as  much 
as  you  like  of  it  in  another  smaller  shell,  and  temper  it  to  a 
reasonable  softness  or  consistence,  with  whipped  white  of  egg, 
in  order  to  paint  or  write  with  it ;  and  if  you  have  time,  allow 
the  mordant  to  get  stale,  for  several  days  or  weeks,  for  it  will 
be  better  putrid  than  fresh.  Afterwards  write,  pamt,  and  draw 
whatever  you  like,  and  where  you  like,  and  let  it  dry.  Hien, 
when  you  wish  to  lay  on  the  gold,  go  into  a  closed  place  and 
choose  a  proper  time,  as  has  been  before  mentioned.  And  having 
chosen  a  fit  time  and  place,  and  used  the  proper  precautions, 
lay  the  gold  on  those  parts  of  the  parchment  or  paper  on  whidi 
you  put  the  colour  or  mordant,  and  draw  over  it,  first  pressing 
lightly,  and  afterwards  more  fordbly,  the  burnisher,  namely, 
the  tooth  of  a  boar  or  a  horse,  and  polish  the  said  gold  until  it 
adheres  to  the  colour,  and  becomes  shining,  aa  was  said  before. 
Therefore,  when  the  gold  is  to  be  laid  on,  the  mordant  which 
was  left  from  a  previous  gilding  is  better  than  any  other,  pro- 
vided that  in  the  interval,  by  looking  at  it,  stirring  it  and 
mixing  egg  or  water  with  it,  it  has  been  kept  sufficiently  liquid, 
so  that  it  may  not  be  completely  dried  up,  or  have  been  too 
much  putrified  or  altered. 

299.  To  make  a  rose  colour, — To  make  a  rose  colour  for 
painting  on  parchment,  paper,  and  wooden  panels  primed 
with  chalk.  Take  brixillium  scraped  very  fine  with  a  knife 
or  with  glass,  and  tie  it  in  a  fine  piece  of  linen,  not  tight, 
but  loose  and  easy.  And  put  it,  tied  up  in  that  manner, 
into  a  new  glazed  earthen  jar,  to  soak  in  ley,  or  in  urine ; 
and  if  the  urine  is  stale,  so  much  the  better.  If  you  cannot 
have  any  such,  take  very  strong  ley  and  put  with  the  said 
piece  of  linen  containing  the  brixillium,  some  of  the  white 
chalk  of  three  or  four  times  the  weight  of  the  brixillium, 
more  or  less,  as  by  looking  at  it  you  may  think  fit,  aooording 
to  the  goodness  of  the  brixillium.      Afterwards  add  some 


ALCHEBIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  DIVERSIS.  283 

i.  e.  cum  pauca  aqua,  super  lapidem  equalem  durum  cum  mol- 
leta  lapidis  similiter.  Postea  pone  ipsum  colorem  qui  aliter 
tempera  vel  assisia  auri  dicitur,  in  conchilla  aut  in  scuteUa 
figuli  vitriata,  aut  in  vase  vitri.  £t  cum  operari  vis,  acdpe  de 
ipso  in  conchilla  alia  parviori  quantum  vis  et  modera  ipsum 
cum  claro  ovi  spongiato  ad  rationabilem  moUitiem  seu  liquida- 
tem  pro  pingendo  aut  scribendo  de  ipso,  et  si  babes  tempus 
cum  temperaveris,  dimittas  inveterari  per  plures  dies  vel  sepli- 
manas  ipsam  temperam,  quia  melior  erit  putrida  quam  reoena. 
Postea  de  ipso  scribe  pinge  et  pertrabe  que  vis  et  ubi  vis  et  di- 
mittas siccari.  Postea  sis  in  loco  recluso  cum  aurum  yis  ponere 
et  elige  tempus  idoneum  ut  supradictum  est  £t  habitis  idcxieis 
loco  et  tempore  et  remediis;  ponas  aurum  in  locis  cartas  aut  pa- 
pyri quibus  ipsum  colorem  vel  lusisiam  posuisti,  et  super  trahe, 
et  premendo  prime  leviter,  postea  fortius  bumissorem,  scilicet 
dentem  apri  vel  eqid  et  polias  tantum  dictum  aurum  quam  ad- 
haereat  colori  et  lucidum  fiat  ut  supra  jam  dictum  est  Ideo 
cum  aurum  poni  vult,  color  talis  remansus  de  alia  positione 
auri  alias  fiau^ta  melior  est  dum  ex  interpolata  visitatione  de- 
ductione  et  ovi  aut  aquae  interpositione  conservatus  sit  in  debita 
liquiditate,  ita  quod  ad  totalem  siccitatem  vel  nimiam  putre- 
factionem  et  alterationem  deductus  non  sit 


299.  Ad  faciendum  Bosom, — ^Ad  faciendum  rosam  pro  ope- 
rando  in  carta,  et  in  papiro,  et  in  ligneis  tabulis  creta  dealbatia. 
Accipe  brixillium  rasum  subtiliter  cum  cultello  vel  cum  vitro, 
et  liga  in  subtili  pecia  Uni  non  siricte  sed  late  et  fluctuanter. 
Et  sic  ligatum  pone  in  vase  figuli  vitriato  novo  ad  temperan- 
dum  in  lixivio  aut  in  urina  hominis  ebriatoris  potantis  forte 
vinum,  et  si  urina  sit  Vetera  tanto  melius,  et  si  non  possis 
habere  talem,  accipe  lessivium  fortissimum  et  pone  de  creta 
alba  in  ipso  lessivio,  cum  dicta  petia  in  qua  est  brixillium  et 
per  quantitatem  de  tribus  vel  quatuor  vidbus  quantitatis  l»ix- 
iUii  ad  pondus  et  etiam  sicut  inspiciendo  melius  videbb  conve* 
nire  plus  et  minus  secundum  bonitatem  brixillii.     Postea  pone 


284  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGU£. 

pulverized  raw  alum,  in  quantity  about  one-fourth  part  of  llie 
chalk  or  thereabouts,  more  or  less,  and  mix  all  these  things 
together,  always  leaving  the  said  brixillinm  tied  up  in  the 
said  piece  of  linen,  and  leave  it  so  for  about  one  hour.  Next, 
place  the  jar  upon  a  fire,  not  of  wood,  but  of  charcoal,  and 
let  it  boil,  but  not  too  fast,  for  the  space  of  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  or  less,  so  as  just  to  melt  the  alum.  Hien  take  the  said 
bag  of  brixillium  out  of  the  vase,  and  press  it  and  screw  it  out 
well,  in  order  that  the  whole  of  the  colour  may  run  out  of  it 
into  the  said  vase ;  and  then  remove  the  colour,  hot  as  it  is, 
from  the  fire,  and  put  it  on  a  hollow  lump  of  chalk  or  upon  a 
brick  of  baked  clay,  in  order  that  the  urine  or  ley  may  be  im- 
mediately absorbed  into  the  stone,  and  the  colour  itself  remain 
thickened  and  half  dry.  Afterwards  let  it  dry  completely  in 
the  sun,  and  then  remove  the  colour,  which  is  of  a  rose  colour, 
from  the  stone  or  brick  with  a  knife,  and  put  it  by  for  use. 
When  you  wish  to  use  it,  take  as  much  as  you  require  and 
powder  it,  that  is,  grind  it  upon  a  hard  and  smooth  stone  with 
gum  water,  which  must  be  made  of  two-third  parts  of  gum 
arabic  dissolved  in  so  small  a  quantity  of  water  as  barely  to 
cover  the  colour  when  the  water  is  added  and  struned  through 
a  linen  cloth,  and  one-third  part  of  clear  water  mixed  vrith  the 
said  gum  so  dissolved  and  strained.  And  with  the  gum  water, 
thus  made,  temper  your  rose  coloiu*  to  a  proper  consistence, 
and  use  it  for  whatever  you  please,  as  well  for  writing,  as  for 
painting  and  drawing. 

300.  To  make  corrosive  green^  witJwut  substance  or  body. — 
To  make  a  green  transparent  in  its  nature,  and  without  body, 
that  is,  having  no  substance,  such,  for  example,  as  is  the  colour 
of  safiron,  t.  e.  of  crocus,  which  does  not  cover  up  other  colours 
so  as  to  conceal  them,  on  account  of  its  thinness,  transparency, 
and  rarity,  owing  to  which  other  colours  appear  throu^  it, 
wherefore  this  colour  as  well  as  the  said  green  colour  is  over- 
powered, and  shows  little  or  not  at  all,  nor  can  it  be  much  seen 
over  other  colours.  But  this  green  colour  is  not  mild  like 
safiron,  on  the  contrary  it  is,  by  nature,  acrid  and  corrosive,  so 


ALCHBRIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  DIVERSIS.  285 

de  alumine  glaro  crudo  pisto  in  pulverem,  quod  sit  tantum 
quantuin  est  qiiartum  diets  crets  vel  circa,  et  autem  plus 
quam  minus,  et  misceas  haec  omnia  imdmul  dimittendo  semper 
ligatum  in  dicta  pecia  dictum  brixillium  et  dimittens  sic  per 
horam  unam  yel  circa.  Postea  ponas  vas  ad  ignem  non  ligno- 
rum  sed  carbonum  et  bulliant  non  nimis  fortiter  et  per  spatium 
quartse  partis  horse  vel  minus,  ita  quod  solum  alumen  fondatur. 
Postea  de  ipso  rase  tollatur  dicta  pecia  brixillii  et  exprimatur 
et  extorqueatur  fortiter  ut  color  de  ipsa  totaliter  exeat  in  eodem 
vase ;  postea  tollatur  ipse  color  ita  callidus  ab  igne  et  ponatur 
saper  lapidem  cretse  concavse  vel  super  lapidem  de  terra  &c., 
ad  hoc  quod  urina  seu  lessivia  intret  in  lapidem  subito  et 
color  ipse  remaneat  ibi  inspissatus  et  semisiccus.  Postea  facias 
ex  toto  siccari  ad  solem,  deinde  eleva  ipsum  colorem,  quae  rosa 
est  cum  cultello  a  lapide  vel  latere,  et  repone  servando  pro  usu. 
Et  cum  de  ipsa  operari  vis,  accipe  de  ipsa  quantum  vis  et 
subtilia,  id  est  tere  super  lapidem  durum  et  planum  cum  aqua 
gummata  qus  fit  per  duas  partes  gummi  arabici  fusi  in  tam 
pauca  aqua,  quod  pene  cooperiatur  ipsa  aqua  cum  in  ipsam  po- 
nitur  aqua,  et  colati  postea  per  telam  lineam,  et  per  tertiam 
partem  fit  aqua  clara  insimul  cum  dicto  gummi  fiiso  et  colato ; 
et  de  ipsa  aqua  gommata  ipso  modo  factam  distempera  dictam 
rosam  ad  debitam  mollitiem  et  operaberis  de  ipsa  quae  volueris, 
tam  scribendo  quam  pingendo  ac  protrahendo. 


300.  Ad  faciendum  viride  corrosivum  absque  substantia  seu 
corpari, — ^Ad  &dendum  viride  in  substantia  clarum  et  non  cor- 
pulentum  id  est  substantiam  non  habentem,  ut  verbi  gratia 
clarus  atque  sine  substantia  est  color  safran,  i.  e.  croci  qui  non 
cooperit  alios  colores  pro  ejus  subtilitate  claritate  et  raritate, 
qua  alii  colores  apparent  per  medium  ipsum,  et  ex  hoc  ipse 
pro  raritate  sua  ut  et  dictus  color  viridis  remanet  obfuscatus,  et 
nil  vel  minimum  apparet,  neque  multum  apparere  potest  super 
alios  colores.  Sed  ipse  color  viridis  non  est  dulcis  sicut  est 
dictus  color  croci,  ymo  ex  sua  natura  est  acer  et  corrosivus, 


286  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

that  it  destroys  and  corrodes  other  colours  if  it  is  pot  over 
them,  or  they  over  it^  and  this  on  account  of  the  verdigris 
which  is  in  it ;  and  such  is  its  nature,  and  it  is  used  upon 
parchment  and  paper.  Take  verdigris  and  a  little  of  the 
dried  lees  of  wine,  which  in  Latin  is  called  tartanu,  and  in 
French  graveUe^  and  pulverize  it  and  grind  both  the  ingredients 
together  upon  a  hard  and  smooth  stone  with  vinegar.  After- 
wards draw  all  those  things  which  you  wish,  both  in  parchment 
and  paper,  and  the  empty  spaces  which  are  between  the  lines 
of  black ;  afterwards  fill  in  with  the  green  colour  made  in  the 
above  manner,  and  colour  according  to  your  taste,  the  things 
which  you  have  so  drawn  as  aforesaid.  And  note,  that  no 
other  colour  can  be  laid  over  this  green  colour,  as  has  been 
already  observed,  nor  can  it  be  laid  over  others ;  nor  can  it  be 
used  otherwise  than  by  itself  and  upon  white  paper  and  parch- 
ment, because  this  green  colour,  made  as  above,  \&  corrosive 
and  acrid,  and,  by  reason  of  its  acrid  nature,  it  destroys  other 
colours,  as  has  been  already  mentioned  above. 

301.  To  make  a  green  colauTj  which  has  body  and  is  not  cor^ 
rosive. — To  make  a  mild  green  body  colour,  for  painting  on 
parchment,  on  paper,  on  linen,  and  on  primed  wooden  panels. 
Take  verdigris  and  the  juice  of  the  herb  which  is  called  in 
French  Jlamma^  and  strain  the  juice  of  the  herb  through  a 
linen  cloth,  and  grind  up  the  aforesaid  green  with  it  upon 
a  stone,  adding  a  little  gum  water  to  it.  Then  put  it  into  a 
shell  or  a  glazed  earthen  saucer,  and  temper  it  with  the  gum 
water,  and  the  juice  of  that  herb.  The  gum  water  must  be 
made  of  clear  gum  arable,  and  must  be  strained,  lest,  when  the 
gum  is  poured  into  the  colour,  it  should  contain  any  straws,  earth, 
or  other  impurities.  Afterwards  write,  draw,  and  paint  what- 
ever you  like  with  this  green  colour,  and  note,  that  the  juice 
of  rue  would  be  better  than  that  of  the  above  written  herb  for 
putting  into  the  above-mentioned  composition  of  the  sud  green 


»  Anglic^  "  Tartar." 

*  Flambe,  Glayeol.  It  Gladiola ;  E.  Cornflag ;  L.  Gladioloa  Commimis. 


ALCHERinS  BE  GOLORIBUS  DIVEBSIS.  287 

taliter  qttod  destmit  et  rodit  alios  oolores  si  poomtor  super  ipsos, 
yel  ipd  super  ipsum,  et  hoc  pro  yiride  asria  qui  in  ipso  ponitor 
et  est  talis  conditioms  et  ponitur  in  carta  et  in  papiro.  Accipe 
▼iride  seris  et  modicum  de  fsece  yini  sicca,  qus  dicitur  in  latino 
tartarus  et  in  gallico  gravellaj  et  subtilia  et  tere  super  lapidem 
durum  et  planum  insimul  qu»  dicta  sunt  cum  aceto.  Postea 
omnia  quffi  in  carta  et  in  papiro  protrahere  vis,  protrahe,  ac  va- 
cuum, viz.  per  lineas  de  colore  scilicet  nigro,  postea  de  ipso 
colore  viridi  sic  facto  ut  dictum  est  colora  ad  libitum  ea  quae 
ut  dictum  est  protraxeris.  Et  nota  quod  super  ipsum  colorem 
▼iridem  ut  dictum  est,  nullus  alter  color  debet  poni  neque  ipse 
super  alios  nisi  solum  super  cartam  albam  vel  papirum,  et  non 
super  colorem  aUquem  album  artificiatum  sen  pictum,  quia  ipse 
color  viridis  illo  modo  factus  est  fortis  seu  acer  et  pro  sua  acri- 
tudine  destruit  alios  colores  ut  supra  jam  dictum  est. 


301.  Ad  faciendum  colorem  viridem  cum  corpore  et  turn  cor- 
ronvum, — ^Ad  faciendum  colorem  viridem  dulcem  et  corpulen- 
tum,  pro  operando  in  pergameno,  in  papiro,  in  telis,  et  in 
tabulis  ligneis  dealbatis.  Accipe  viridem  aeris  seu  arani  et 
Buccum  herbae  qu«  dicitur  in  gallico  flamma  et  ipsum  succum 
herbae  cola  per  telam  lineam  et  cum  ipso  tere  super  lapidem 
viridem  suprascriptum  addendo  aliquantulum  de  aqua  gom- 
mata,  postea  ipsum  pone  in  concbella,  vel  in  scutella  figuli 
vitriata,  et  distempera  cum  dicta  aqua  gummata  et  cum  dicto 
suoco  ipsius  herbae,  et  dicta  aqua  gummata  debet  fieri  de  gum- 
mi  arabico  lucido,  et  collata,  ne  cum  infusum  sit  gummi  in  ipsa, 
adsint  in  ipsa  ullae  palleae,  terra  vel  aUae  turpitudines.  Et  pos- 
tea de  ipso  colore  viridi  scribe  protrahe  et  pinge  quae  vis.  Et  nota 
quod  succus  rutae  esset  melior  quam  suprascriptae  herbae  ad  po- 
nendum  in  dicta  compositioni  dicti  viridis  coloris.    £t  alii  sunt 


288  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

colour.    There  are  some  persons  who  put  the  juice  of  certain 
other  herbs. 

The  aforesaid  colour  is  sudi  that  you  may  paint  upon  it 
with  other  colours,  and  lay  gold  upon  it,  &c,  in  the  same 
manner  as  upon  sinopis  or  ultramarine,  or  upon  rosa,  and  other 
similar  things,  because  there  is  no  vinegar  in  it,  and  the  acrid 
nature  of  the  verdigris  is  corrected  by  the  juice  of  the  said 
herb. 

302.  Introduction  to  the  foUowing  chapter,  concerning  the 
marmer  of  making  tmriting  ink. 

Also  ia  the  aforesaid  year,  1398,  on  Saturday  the  xijth  day  of  Octo- 
ber, the  aforesaid  Johannes  Alcherius  wrote  at  Paris,  and  in 
this  place,  after  the  preceding,  added  this  chapter  concerning  the 
way  to  make  good  atramentum,  or  incaustum,  which  chapter  had 
been  long  previously,  even  before  the  year  1382,  given  to  him 
in  writing  at  Milan,  by  the  since  deceased  Master  Alberto  For- 
zello,  who  was  most  perfect  in  all  kinds  of  writing  and  forms 
of  letters,  and  who,  while  he  lived,  kept  a  school  at  Milan,  and 
taught  boys  and  young  men  to  write ;  and  who,  as  he  said,  had 
frequentiy  tried  and  made  ink  in  the  manner  described  in  this 
chapter,  and  had  found  it  very  good,  as  he  told  the  said  Johannes. 
And  the  sud  Johannes,  himself,  afterwards  tried  this  method  at 
Milan,  and  also  found  it  very  good.  And  afterwards  in  the  said 
year,  1382,  in  the  month  of  March,  when  the  said  Johannes 
Alcherius  went  from  Milan  to  Paris,  he  carried  with  him  a  copy 
of  the  said  recipe,  which  is  as  follows.  But  afterwards,  in  the 
year  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  1411,  in  the  month  of  Decem- 
ber, having  then  been  returned  to  Paris  more  than  one  year  from 
Lombardy — viz.,  from  Bologna,  from  the  newly-formed  Apostolical 
mrui,  he  corrected  in  some  places  the  following  redpes,  and  copied 
them  fairly  as  follows : — 

303.  To  make  ink  for  writing. — Observe  that  choice  and 
tried  writing  ink  must  be  made  in  this  way.  Take  iij  ounces 
of  galls,  the  goodness  of  which  may  be  known  by  their  being 
wrinkled.  Take  an  equal  quantity  of  gum  arable,  the  good- 
ness of  which  may  be  known  by  its  being  bright  and  easily 
broken,  and  the  smallest  is  the  best  Item.  Take  3j^  oz.  of 
Roman  vitriol  [sulphate  of  copper  ?],  the  goodness  of  which  may 
be  known  by  its  being  of  a  blue  colour,  and  solid,  and  coarse 
after  the  manner  of  coarse  salt.     Afterwards  take  four  pounds. 


ALCHERIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  DIVERSIS.  289 

qui  ponunt  suocos  quahindam  aliarum  herbarum.  £t  color 
suprascriptus  est  talis  qtLod  potest  super  ipso  piDge  cum  aliis 
coloribus,  et  super  ipso  poni  aurum  etc.  sicuti  posset  fieri  super 
sinopide  yel  super  lazurio,  Tel  super  rosa  et  aliis  similibus, 
quia  ibi  non  est  acetum,  et  acritudo  viridis  sris  mitigata  est  ex 
dicto  sncco  herbae. 


302.  Prohemium  super  dapitulo  sequenti  de  modo  adfcucien-' 
dutn  incatutum  pro  scribendo. 

Item  anno  pnedicto  1398,  die  sabati  zii.  Octobris,  antedictus  Johannes 
Alcherius  scripsit  in  PariBiia,  et  hie  post  preoedentem  addidit  hoc 
capitulum  de  modo  faciendi  bonum  atramentum  sen  incaustum  ad 
scribendum,  quod  capitulum  jam  diu  usque  ante  annum  1382  sibi 
dederat  in  scriptis  in  Mediolano  nunc  quondam  magister  Albertus 
Pcrzdhts  perfectissimus  in  omnibus  modis  scribendi  et  formis  lite- 
rarum,  qui  tunc  dum  vixit  tenuitscolas  in  Mediolano  et  docebat 
pueros  et  juvenes  ad  scribendum.  Et  qui  temptaverat  ipsemet 
multotiens  et  feoerat  attramentum  in  modum  in  ipso  capitulo  con- 
tentum,  et  invenerat  valde  bonum  ut  dixit  dicto  Johanni.  Et  postea 
dictus  Johannes  ipsum  modum  temptavit  Mediolano  et  invenit 
similiter  valde  bonum.  Et  postea  dicto  anno  1382  de  mense  Martii, 
quum  dictus  Johannes  Alcherius  iirit  a  Mediolano  Parisiis,  portavit 
secum  copiam  dicti  capitnli  quae  talis  est  ut  sequitur.  Sed  postea 
anno  ejusdem  domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi  1411  de  mense  decembris 
dum  jam  per  plnsquam  annum  de  partibus  Lombardiae  viz.,  a  Bo- 
nonia  veniens,  ab  apostolica  Curia  noviter  unita,  rediisset  Parisiis,  in 
aliquibus  partibus  ea  quae  dicta  sunt  sequcntia,  et  rescripsit  ad 
nettum  ut  sequitur. 


303.  Ad  faciendum  incaustum  seu  atramentum  pro  scri- 
bendo. —  Nota  quod  atramentum  electum  et  probatum  boc 
modo  debet  fieri.  Accipe  unciae  tres  gallse,  cujus  bonitas  ap- 
paret  si  minuta  in  crispa  est.  Totidem  accipe  de  gummi  ara- 
bico,  cujus  bonitas  apparet  si  lucidum  et  de  facili  frangatur, 
et  minutum  magis  valet.  Item  accipe  oncias  tres  et  dimidiam 
vitrioli  Bomani,  cujus  bonitas  apparet  si  est  coelesti  coloris  et 
solidum  et  grossum,  quasi  in  modum  salis  grossi.  Postea  accipe 
quatuor  libras  de  onciis  duodecim  per  libram  aquae  clarae,  quae  si 

VOL,  I.  u 


290  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BBQUE. 

of  twelve  ounces  to  the  pound,  of  clear  water,  whidi  if  it  is 
rain  water,  or  water  firom  a  cistern  in  which  rain  water  is  kept, 
is  better  than  well,  spring,  or  river  water ;  and  put  into  a  new 
metal  or  glazed  earthen  jar,  which  has  never  been  used  for  any 
thing  else,  in  order  that  it  may  be  pure  and  dean  from  all 
filth ;  and  into  this  water,  put  the  galls  roug^y  pounded  so 
that  each  grain  of  gall  may  be  broken  into  four  or  five  pieces, 
and  then  let  the  galls  boil  in  the  water  without  gum  or  vitriol, 
until  the  water  is  reduced  to  one-half.  Then  let  it  be  strained 
through  a  doth  or  piece  of  linen,  and  be  put  back  without 
the  substance  of  the  galls  in  the  vase  over  the  fire,  and  let  it 
remain  there  until  it  begins  to  boil,  and  then  put  into  it  the 
gum  ground  and  pulverized,  and  let  it  boil  gently  for  a  short 
time,  namely,  until  the  gum  is  dissolved,  leaving  done  this, 
pour  into  it  directly  two  pounds  of  the  best  pure  and  white 
wine,  and  stir  it  a  little,  and  immediately  add  the  vitriol  well 
pulverized,  stir  it  again  a  little,  and  then  immediately  re- 
move the  vase  from  the  fire,  and  mix  the  whole  together  in 
order  that  the  vitriol  may  be  well  incorporated  with  the  galls, 
and  the  gum,  and  the  water.  Having  done  all  these  things  in 
order,  put  the  vase  with  the  ink  in  the  open  air,  and  let  it 
stand  for  one  night,  in  order  that  the  sir  may  make  it  brilliant 
and  more  black.  And  therefore  if  it  be  done  in  fine  weather, 
it  will  be  better  and  finer.  Afterwards  strain  it  through  a 
cloth,  and  put  it  by,  and  keep  it  for  use. 
303a.  ^  Another  Recipe  to  make  Ink, 

Another  recipe  for  making  one  quart  of  good  atramentum,  or  incans- 
turn,  which,  however,  does  not  belong  to  the  present  treatise ;  but 
was  added  in  this  place  on  account  of  its  connexion  with  the  matter 
of  the  preceding  chapter,  by  me,  Jehan  Le  Begue,  licentiate  in  law, 
who  wrote  with  my  own  hand,  although  not  accustomed  to  it,  the 
present  woriL,  or  the  chapters  in  this  volume  contuned,  in  the  Year 
of  Our  Lord  mccccxxxj,  and  in  the  year  of  my  age  Ixiij,  as  I  found 
the  same  recipe  elsewhere,  written  as  follows : — 

Take  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  gall-nuts  of  the  weight  of  iiij. 


*  The  succeeding  chapters,  to  the  end  of  the  volume,  were  added  by 
Le  Beguc. 


ALCHERIUS  DE  COLORIBUS  DIVEBSIS.  291 

est  plu viaJlis  vel  de  cisterna  reservante  aquas  pluviales  melior  est 
quam  putei  nee  fontis  nee  fluvii  et  pone  earn  in  vase  metallino 
vel  figuli  vitriato  novo,  quod  non  sit  alteri  usui  deputatum,  ut 
sit  purum  et  mundum  ab  omni  sorde,  et  in  ipsa  aqua  mitte 
gallam  grosso  mode  tritam,  ita  quod  de  quolibet  grano  gallae 
fiant  quatuor  velquinque  particulse,  et  sic  bulliat  galla  in  aqua 
absque  gummi  et  vitriolo,  donee  aqua  reddatur  ad  medium 
comminuta.  Postea  coletur  per  pannum  sen  telam  et  absque 
substantia  galUe  reponatur  in  vase  ad  ignem  et  sic  tantum  stet 
quod  incipiat  buUire,  et  tunc  gummi  tritum  et  pulverizatum 
mittatur  in  ipsa  et  bulliat  aliquantulum,  scilicet  leniter  usque : 
quo  gummi  liquefactum  sit.  '  His  factis,  immolate  apponas 
duas  libras  optimi  vini  puri  et  aibi  et  aliquantulum  misce,  et 
immediate  mitte  vitriolum  bene  pulverizatum  et  misceas  pa- 
rum,  et  statim  eleva  vas  ab  igne,  et  misceas  simul  totum,  ita 
quod  bene  incorporetur  vitriolum  cum  galla,  et  gummi,  et 
aqua.  Omnibus  his  peractis  ex  ordine  pone  vas  cum  ipso 
attramento  ad  aerem  serenum,  et  stet  per  unam  noctem,  xit  sere- 
num  reddat  ipsum  lucidum  et  magis  nigrum.  Et  ideo  si  fiat 
sereno  tempore,  magis  valet  et  pulcrius  est.  Et  postea  coletur 
per  telam,  et  reponetur,  et  usui  servetur. 


303a.  Autre  Recepte  pourfaire  encre. 

Alia  recepta  pro'  faciendo  unam  quartam  attramenti  seu  incausti  boni, 
quse  tamen  non  est  de  praesenti  compilatione,  sed  hie,  propter  con- 
nezitatem  materis  capituli  preeedentis,  fuit  addita  per  me  Johannem 
Le  Bigue  Itcentiatum  in  legUms  qui  prsesens  opus  seu  eapitula  in  hac 
volumine  aggregata,  propria  manu,  licet  non  assuetus,  scripsi  Anno 
Domini  mccccxxxi  setatis  vero  mese  Iziij,  prout  eandem  receptam 
alibi  scriptam  reperi  sub  bac  forma. 

Prenes  ung  quarteron  de  noiz  de  galle  de  iiij  deniers  parisis 


u2 


292  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

Parisian  deniers,  and  let  them  be  beaten  to  powder.  Pat  it 
[the  powder]  into  a  quart  and  a  half  of  water,  and  let  it  boil 
for  an  hour  and  a  half  or  more  on  a  good  charcoal  fire  until  the 
water  is  reduced  to  a  quart ;  and  when  it  has  thus  boiled  put 
into  it  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  gum  of  the  weight  of  iiij.  Paridan 
deniers  and  a  cup  full  of  vinegar ;  and  then  make  it  boil  another 
hour,  and  when  it  has  boiled,  take  it  olBTand  put  into  it  a  quarter 
of  a  pound  of  copperas  in  powder  of  the  weight  of  iij.  Parisian 
deniers,  and  let  it  cool,  and  then  put  it  into  an  inkstand.  And 
if  it  is  too  pale  add  to  it  a  little  more  copperas,  and  you  will 
have  good  ink. 

304.   To  make  a  rose  colour  from  Bretzil  wood, — Take  a  mix- 
ture of  equal  quantities  of  water  from  a  cistern,  and  wine,  and 
boil  in  it  shavings  of  the  said  brexillium ;  and,  having  extracted 
and  pressed  out  the  colour,  and  strained  the  red  liquid  through 
a  linen  cloth,  and  removed  the  substance  of  the  wood,  add  to 
the  water  a  little  roche  alum  in  powder ;  and  when  it  is  dis- 
solved, put   in  some  white  gypsum,  which  has  been  ground 
upon  a  stone  with  pure  water  and  dried,  or  some  bracha  pre- 
pared and  ground  in  the  same  way  as  the  gypsum  is  directed  to 
be  done,  in  sufficient  quantity,  and  mix  and  incorporate  them  all 
well  together,  and  keep  for  use.  This  water  can  also  be  used  with- 
out putting  in  gypsum  or  bracha,  but  only  for  shading,  and  not 
as  a  body  colour,  for  it  has  no  body  or  ^substance ;  and  when 
the  bracha  or  gypsum  is  added,  then  it  can  be  used  as  a  body 
colour  as  well  as  for  shading,  because  the  gypsum  or  bracha, 
which  have  body,  give  their  body  to  the  colour. 

305.  Tracing  paper^  through  which  aU  things  are  visible  that 
are  drawn  and  figured  on  other  parchment  or  on  paper  or  on 
panels  when  laid  under  it,  and  therefore  all  drawings  which  are 
put  under  it,  or  all  drawings  or  pictures  over  which  it  is  put, 
can  be  drawn  correctly  and  perfectly  on  this  tracing  paper.  It 
is  made  in  this  way.  Grease  thinly  with  mutton  suet  a  smooth 
and  polished  stone  of  the  breadth  and  length  you  wish  your 
tracing  paper  to  be.  Then,  with  a  broad  brush,  spread  clear 
and  transparent  melted  glue  over  the  stone,  and   let  it  dry. 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  298 

et  faites  batre  en  pouldre,  puis  la  metez  en  quatre  et  demie 
diaue  et  la  faites  boulir  une  heure  et  demie  ou  plus  a  beau  feu 
de  charbon  et  jusques  atant  que  leaue  soit  revenue  a  la  quarte ; 
et  puis  quant  elle  aura  ainsi  bouli,  y  mette&un  quarteron  de 
gomme  de  iiij  deniers  et  plain  gobelet  de  Tin  aigre ;  et  puis  le 
faites  boulir  une  autre  heure  et  puis  quant  elle  aura  boulu,  la 
descendez  et  y  metez  un  quarteron  coperose  en  pouldre  de  iij 
deniers  parisis,  et  le  laissiez  refroidier  puis  metez  en  un  cellier. 
Et  se  elle  est  trop  clere  blanche  si  y  metez  encore  un  pou  de 
coperose  et  vous  aurez  bon  encre, 

304.  Ad  faciendum  colorem  Kgni  BrexiUii  rMoceum. — Acci- 
piantur  aqua  cisterns  et  yinum  album  per  medietatem,  et  in 
ipsis  coquatur  rasura  dicti  brexilii  et  extracto  colore  postea  ex- 
pressa  et  colata  dicta  aqua  rosacia  per  telam  et  ablata  substan- 
tia ligni  suprascripti  ponatur  in  ipsa  aqua  parum  aluminis  rosiae 
triti  quo  fuso  ponatur  in  ipsa  aqua  de  gipso  albo  bene  trito  su- 
per lapidem  cum  aqua  clara  et  desiccato  aut  de  bracha  eodem 
modo  ordinata  et  trita  quo  dictum  est  de  gipso  ad  quantitatem 
quae  sufficiat  et  incorporentur  et  misceantur  et  operetur  de  hoc, 
et  etiam  potest  operari  de  ipsa  aqua  antequam  ponatur  gipsum 
nee  bracha,  sed  solum  umbrando,  et  non  ad  corpus,  quia  corpus 
seu  substantiam  non  habet,  et  quando  apposita  est  bracha  vel 
gipsus,  tunc  potest  operari  ad  corpus  et  etiam  umbrando  quia 
gipsus  seu  bracha  qui  corpus  habent  incorporant  colorem  ipsum. 


305.  Carta  lustra^  per  quam  transparent  quae  sub  ipsam  sunt 
posita  protracta  et  figurata  in  aliis  cartis  Tel  in  papiris  aut  in 
tabulis  et  possunt  igitur  in  ipsa  carta  lustra  penitus  et  recte  ah- 
strahi  qualia  sunt  quae  sub  ipsam  ponimtur  protracta  yel  pro- 
tractiones  et  picturae  super  quas  ipsa  extenditur.  Fit  hoc  modo. 
Perungas  subtiliter  sepo  arietino  lapidem  aequalem  et  politam 
latitudinis  et  longitudinis  tantae  quantae  vis  facere  cartam. 
Postea  cum  pincello  lato  lineas  ex  colla  liquefacta  clara  et  lucida 
lapidem  ipsum  et  dimitte  siccari.     Postea  elcTa  ab  uno  angulo 


294  MANUSCRIPTS  OP  JEHAN  LE  BfiGUB. 

Afterwards  lift  up  from  one  of  the  comers  of  the  stone  a  little 
of  this  skin  of  dried  glue,  which  will  be  as  thin  as  paper,  but 
transparent ;  and  see  whether  it  is  thick  enough,  that  is,  whe- 
ther it  is  not  too«thin ;  if  so^  do  not  pull  it  ofl^  but  leave  it  there 
and  ^ve  it  another  coat  of  the  same  glue,  and  let  it  dry ;  and 
then  again,  as  before,  try  whether  it  is  thick  enough.  And 
repeat  this  until  it  is  sufficiently  thick.  Afterwards  take  it 
quite  off  the  stone,  because  the  above-mentioned  greasing  with 
mutton  fat  will  enable  you  to  take  off  the  said  coat  of  glue  easily, 
for  it  will  not  allow  it  to  fasten  or  stick  to  the  stone ;  and  so  you 
will  have  tracing  paper  for  the  purposes  aforesaid.^ 

306.  How  the  cohurs  wre  tempered, — ^AU  colours  are  distem- 
pered with  the  gum  of  the  pine  or  of  the  sapin,'  except  minium 
and  ceruse,  which  are  tempered  with  white  of  egg.  All  kinds 
of  green  must  be  tempered  with  glue  except  Spanish  green, 
which  must  be  tempered  with  vinegar. 

307.  To  clean  and  renovate  minium  that  is  too  old  and  dirty. -^ 
Put  it  into  water  mixed  with  one-fourth  part  of  wine  in  a  horn, 
and  stir  it  up  well ;  then  let  it  settle  well  and  pour  off  and  re- 
move the  water,  and  pulverize  the  colour  and  distemper  it  with 
whipped  white. of  egg,  and  do  as  you  please  with  it. 

308.  To  make  a  colour  which  makes  all  other  colours^  except 
orpimenii  sinople,  and  saffron^  bright j  brilliant^  and  lustrous^  and 
which  is  called  ^^  Clare  J* — Put  gum  arable  to  soak  in  clean  water 
in  a  clean  vessel,  until  it  is  dissolved,  and  with  this  distemper 
your  colours,  or  stir  them  with  it  and  leave  them  moist  for  a  day 
or  two ;  and  if  you  wish  the  clare  to  be  made  quickly,  place  it 
over  hot  ashes. 

309.  To  make  a  very  good  lake. — Take  an  ounce  of  lake,'  and 

^  Compare  this  with  Cermino  Cennini,  chap.  xxv. 
.  *  The  article  being  repeated,  it  would  aeem  that  the  author  intended  two 
kinds  of  pine  resin.  The  latter  was  the  Pinus  Picea  of  Linnnus,  the 
Silver  Fir  of  the  English,  the  Abete  of  the  Italians — whence  they  procured 
the  Olio  di  Abezzo,  which  was  used  in  making  yamishes.  See  Nemnich, 
art.  <  Pinus;'  and  see  Matthioli,  pp.  118,  120. 

"  The  lac  lake. 


BIANUSGBIPT8  OP  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  295 

lapidis  aliquantttlum  linituram  illam  coll»  siccatse  quae  erit  sub- 
tilis  ut  carta  sed  erit  lustra,  et  vide  si  non  sit  satis  grossa  sea 
spissa,  yiz.,  qtiod  sit  nimis  subtilis,  et  non  eleves  sed  permittes, 
et  adhuc  linias  desaper  de  eadem  cola  et  permitte  siccari,  et  ut 
prius  tempta  si  satis  grossa  sit.  Et  totiens  hoc  reiteres  quod 
fiat  sufficienter  grossa.  Postea  ex  toto  eleva  a  lapide  quia  su- 
prascripta  perunctio  lapidis  ex  adipe  arietdno  facta  dabit  facili- 
tatem  elevandi  ipsam  cartam  quam  non  permiserit  lapidi  glu- 
tinari  nee  adhsrere  et  sic  habebis  cartam  lustram  ad  ea  quae 
dicta  sunt  facienda. 

306.  Toutes  couleurs  sent  destrempees  de  gomme  de  pin  ou 
de  sapin,  fors  mine  et  ceruse  qui  se  destrampent  de  glaire  dceufe. 
Tout  vert  droit  estre  destrempe  de  glux,  se  ce  nest  vert  des* 
pagne  qui  doit  estre  destrempez  de  vin  aigre. 

307.  Se  mine  est  trap  vielk  ei  trop  orde  pour  la  renouveler  et 
abdlir,  — Mettez  le  en  yaue  avecques  la  quarte  partie  de  vin, 
en  un  comet  et  la  mouvez  tres  bien,  puiz  la  laissiez  bien  ras- 
seoir,  puis  purez  et  ostez  leaue  et  le  brisiez  et  destrempez  de 
glaire  doef  et  en  faites  vostre  yolente. 

808.  Pour  faire  une  couleur  qui  fait  toutes  autres  couleurs 
rebiisans  clers  et  replendissans  qui  est  nommee  dare;  hormis 
orpiment  sinopk  et  sqfran. — Mettez  tremper  gomme  arabice 
en  eaue  nette  en  un  vaisseau  net  tant  que  elle  soit  fondue  et 
soit  expresse  par  raison,  et  de  ce  destrempez  vos  couleurs  ou 
Yous  les  mouvez  avecques,  et  les  laissiez  moitier  par  img  jour 
ou  deux.  Et  se  vous  voulez  qu'il  soit  tost  fait  si  le  mettez 
dessus  les  cendres  chaudes. 

309.  Pour  faire  tres  bonne  laque. — Prenez  une  once  de  laque 


296  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BE6UE, 

rasp  finely  a  little  Brazil  wood,  put  it  into  a  clean  vefisel,  ihen 
add  to  the  Brazil  wood  some  clean  and  clear  beaten  white  of  eg^ 
and  a  little  alum  Vater.  Grind  the  lake  with  that  water  and 
dry  it  in  the  sun,  and  when  you  wish  to  use  it,  distemper  it  with 
this  water,  espedally  on  parchment ;  and  the  more  you  grind  it 
up  with  this  Brazil  wood  water,  the  better  it  will  be. 


810.  To  write  or  paint  with  gold, — ^Put  quicksilver  with  pow- 
dered gold  into  stag's  leather,  and  press  it ;  the  quick^ver  will 
pass  through  the  leather,  and  the  gold  will  remain ;  then  put 
the  gold  with  the  quicksilver  over  the  fire,  but  take  care  that 
the  crucible  does  not  bum.  And  you  must  add  to  it  a  little  well- 
pulverized  salt,  until  the  mercury  evaporates,  which  you  may 
catch  in  a  vessel  anointed  with  grease,  and  suspended  above  it 
Then  wash  the  powdered  gold  with  water  in  a  basin  as  you  would 
wash  minium ;  and  when  it  is  dry,  stir  into  it  a  glue  made  ^th 
parchment  or  vellum,  which  you  must  put  into  a  vessel  over 
hot  water,  and  it  will  presently  be  dissolved.  "When  this  is  the 
case,  grind  it  well,  and  fill  with  it  your  pen  or  pencil,  and  write 
or  paint  with  this  distempered  gold. 

811.  To  illuminate  a  book  or  other  thing  with  miniumJ — Do 
not  use  minium  alone,  for  the  letters  would  be  too  li^t  coloured, 
and  would  not  look  well,  but  put  minium  with  vermilion ;  and  if 
the  vermilion  is  very  red  and  new,  put  two  parts  of  that  to  one 
of  minium.  And  if  it  is  old  and  brown,  put  equal  quantities  of 
each,  or  two-thirds  of  minium,  for  the  older  the  vermilion  the 
darker  and  browner  it  is.  When  it  is  ground  up  with  clear  water 
and  dried  in  heaps,  if  you  wish  to  use  it  and  to  have  it  appear 
brilliant,  distemper  it  with  varnish  and  white  of  e^  beaten  to  a 
firoth,  and  add  a  little  clean  water ;  with  this  you  may  write 
large  letters  [initial]  and  small  on  parchment.     If  the  colour  is 


*  This  18  nearly  a  repetition  of  No.  177. 


MANUSCRIPTS  OP  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  297 

et  rayez  un  pou  de  bresil  soubtiUement  et  mettez  le  en  un  vais- 
sel  nett,  puiz  mettez  dedens  le  bresil  glaire  doef  batu  ders  et 
net  e{  puiz  un  pou  deaue  en  quoi  il  ait  un  pou  dalun  mis  avec- 
ques,  et  puis  de  celle  eaue  monies  le  laque,  puiz  le  laisinez  se- 
cher  au  soleil  et  quant  vous  en  voulez  ouvrer  yous  le  destrem- 
prerez  de  ceste  yeaue  especialment  en  parebemin.  Et  quant 
plus  de  foys  le  ferez  broyer  et  mouldre  a  cette  yaue  de  bresil, 
et  resuer,  tant  mieulx  vauldra. 

310.  Pour  escrire  ou  paindre  dor. — Mettez  argent  vif  avec- 
ques  or  molu  en  pouldre  en  cuir  de  ceHs,  et  le  espraignez  si 
passera  largent  vif  par  le  cuir  et  lor  demourra  ou  cuir,  puis 
mettez  lor  avecques  largent  vif  sur  le  feu  maiz  gardez  bien  que 
le  crosel  narde.  Et  mettez  avecques  un  pou  de  sel  bien  moulu 
et  crible  tant  que  le  vif  argent  se  parte  par  fiimee,  lequel  vous 
pouez  recevoir  en  une  escueUe  ointe  de  graisse  pendue  au  hault 
au  dessus  puis  lavez  la  pouldre  dor  en  un  bacin  en  yaue,  comme 
vous  feriez  mine.  Puis  mettez  la  pouldre  dor  quant  elle  est  seche 
en  glus  faite  de  parebemin  orculin  [ou  velin]  lequel  mis  en  vais- 
sel  sur  eaue  chaude  est  tantost  resolu  et  quant  tout  sera  resolu 
moelez  bien  et  mettez  en  vostre  plume  ou  pincel  et  escrisiez  ou 
paindez  dicellid  or  trempe. 

311.  Pour  enluminer  de  miney  sait  Kvre  au  autre  chase, — ^Ne 
mettez  pas  mine  par  soi,  car  la  lettre  en  seroit  trop  clere  et  mal 
parant,  mais  mettez  mine  avecques  vermilion,  et  se  le  vermilion 
est  bien  rouge  et  novel  si  en  mettez  deux  parties  etle  tiers  de 
mine.  Et  sil  est  viel  et  obscur  ou  brun  mettez  de  mine  la  moitie 
ou  les  deux  pars,  car  plus  est  vermilion  viel  et  plus  est  noir  et 
obscur,  et  quant  il  sera  mouluz  ensamble  a  leaue  clere  et  sec 
par  monseaux  se  vous  voulez  eu  ouvrer  et  quil  soit  luisant 
trempez  le  de  vemix  et  de  glaire  doeufs  rompue  a  lespurge,  et  y 
mettez  pou  deaue  clere  et  de  ce  escrisiez  en  parebemin  grosse 
lettre  etmenue  et  quant  il  est  sech,  sil  nest  bien  luisant,  et  que 


298  MANUSCBIPTS  OF  JBHAN  LE  BEGUB. 

not  brilliant  when  dry,  and  the  weather  is  moist,  dry  it  by  the 
fire,  and  thus  it  will  shine;  but  if  the  weather  is  dry  and  hot, 
it  will  be  better  to  dry  it  in  the  sun. 

812.  To  write  with  brass^  gold^  and  silver. — file  some  brass 
of  a  good  colour  very  finely,  then  grind  it  on  the  porphyry, 
which  is  a  very  hard  stone ;  put  it  into  a  clean  yessel  and  let  it 
settle ;  then  pour  off  the  water  and  prepare  your  tempera  of 
gum  arabic.  Distemper  it  with  tins,  and  use  it  on  your  pencil, 
and  when  it  is  dry  you  must  rub  and  burnish  it  well  with  the 
stone  which  is  called  ametiete  [haematite].  You  will  act  in 
the  same  manner  for  writing  with  gold  and  silver. 

813.  Orpiment  [atramentujn]  is  thus  made} — ^Take  oil  and 
inky  and  juice  of  the  blackthorn,  and  its  middle  bark  well 
ground  in  a  mortar ;  put  the  whole  together  in  a  pot,  and  let 
it  stand  for  a  night.  Then  boil  it  gently  and  strain  it ;  boil  it 
gently  again  with  myrrh  and  aloes,  and  again  strain  it  Then 
add  to  it  a  little  verjuice  or  glace,'  and  put  the  whole  to  boil 
gently  over  the  coals  without  flame;  then  take  it  off  and 
keep  it 

314.  To  make  a  Utw  colour  like  azure. — ^Take  the  juice  of 
the  corn-flower,'  and  make  on  wood  or  parchment  a  ground  of 
white-lead ;  lay  the  juice  (m  the  said  ground,  three,  four,  or 
five,  or  more  times,  if  necessary,  and  thus  you  will  have  an 
azure  colour, 

315.  To  paint  walls. — Put  a  little  lime  with  ochre,  that  it 
may  be  lighter  coloured,  or  mix  it  with  simple  red  or  prasin,^ 
or  with  a  colour  which  is  called  posce,'  which  b  made  with 
ochre,  green,  and  membrayne  ;*  or  you  may  take  of  a  colour 

'  See  ante,  No.  1S9. 

*  Glaoe,  probably  Alamen  61acie»  or  glanim,  as  in  No.  41. 

*  The  blae-bottle,  the  Corn  Centaury,  the  corn-flower.  Ciano  ddle 
biade,  Ciano  oenileo,  Blaveolo,  Fiore  di  Zaccaria,  Centaurea  cyanua. 

^  Pradmu.  See  Theophilus,  lib.  i.  c.  ii.,  and  see  onle,  pp.  236  and 
244.  This  colour  was  sometimes  called  '*  Prasminem ;"  and  by  the  Italians 
"  Verde  Porro." 

^  Posce.    See  Theophilus,  lib.  i.  c.  iii. 

*  See  Theoph.,  lib.  i.  c.  i.    See  also  ante,  pp.  144  and  180,  where  this 


MANIS9GEIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BBGUE.  299 

le  tempe  6oit  moite^  sechez  le  au  feu,  si  resplendira ;  et  se  le 
temps  %t  sech  et  cbaut  elle  seroit  mieulx  sechee  au  soleil. 

312.  Pour  etcrire  de  laton  et  pareUkmeni  dor  et  dargent. — 
limez  tres  subtilement  laton  de  tres  pure  couleur  et  puis  le 
molez  Boutiliinent  sur  le  porphire  qui  est  pierre  tres  seure, 
puis  le  mettez  et  un:net  vaisel  et  le  laissiez  asseoir,  puis  ostez 
leaue  et  ayez  vostre  detrempe  de  gomme  arabichey  et  leu  des- 
trempez  puis  en  ouvrez  de  vostre  pincel,  et  quant  ce  sera  fait 
et  secby  si  le  frotez  et  bumissez  tres  bien,  d'une  pierre  qui  est 
nommee  ametiste  et  ainsi  povez  yous  escrire  dor  et  dargent. 

313.  Orpiment  sefait  ainsi. — Prenez  oille  et  encre  et  jus 
despine  noire  et  son  escorce  moienne  bien  broyee  en  un  mor- 
tier  et  mettez  tout  ensemble,  en  un  pot,  et  li  laissiez  une  nuit 
reposer,  puis  le  metez  un  poi  boulir,  puis  le  colez,  puis  le 
metez  boulir  un  pou  avee  mirre  et  aloes  et  derechief  le  coulez. 
Puis  imetez  avee  un  po  de  verjus  ou  de  glace,  et  remetez  tout 
ensemble  sur  les  charbons  sans  flamme  un  petit  bolir,  puis  le 
ostez  et  le  gardez. 

314.  A  faire  couleur  blauet  comme  d^azur. — Prenez  jus  de 
bleues  n^  et  fsutes  en  bois  ou  en  parchemin  un  camp  de  blanc 
de  plomh,  puis  mettez  le  jus  dessus  le  dit  champ,  trois  ou 
quatre  ou  cinq  lis  ou  plus  si  mestier  est ;  si  avez  couleur 
dazur. 

315.  Pcurpeittdre  murg. — ^Mettez  un  po  de  chauz  avee  ocre 
pour  avoir  jplus  grant  clarte,  ou  vous  la  mellez  avee  rouge 
simple  ou  avee  prasin  ou  avee  une  couleur  qui  est  nommee  posce 
qui  est  £Eute  de  ocre  vert  et  de  membrayne  ou  vous  pouvez 

colour  is  described  by  S.  Audemar  tinder  the  name  of  **  Olcfaus  seu  Mem- 
bnina.'* 

The  method  of  mural  painting  described  in  the  text  was  probably  that 
which  was  generally  practised  by  the  painters  of  the  middle  ages ;  and 
there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  the  old  paintings  recently  discoTcred  on 
the  walls  of  churches  in  so  many  parts  of  England  were  painted  in  this 
manner. 


300  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

wUch  is  made  of  sinople,  ochre,  lime,  and  pose,  Sec.  And 
walls  should  be  painted  rather  moist  than  otherwise,  because  the 
colours  unite  together  better,  and  are  firmer.  And  all  the 
colours  for  walls  should  be  mixed  with  quicklime. 

316.  Black  is  made  with  charcoal  ground  with  water  or 
wine,  and  distempered  with  oil  or  garlic ;  but  the  best  is  made 
with  atramentum,  unless  it  is  charcoal  which  is  made  of 
scales  of  iron  boiled  and  heated  with  oil.  Or  take  the  bark  of 
alder  and  grind  it  with  iron  filings  in  water,  and  put  it  with 
atramentum,  and  distemper  it 

317.  The  flesh  colour  of  images  is  thus  made. — ^Take  terre 
verte,  white,  and  lake,  mix  them  together,  and  fill  what  you 
please  with  them.  Then  make  a  shade  [tint]  of  green  and 
ochre  so  that  it  may  be  like  green,  and  mix  with  it  a  little 
lake,  and  mark  out  the  shadows  with  it ;  then  make  the  rose 
colour  with  white  and  synople,  and  lay  it  wherever  you  may 
think  proper.  Then  make  the  flesh  colour  of  ochre  and  white, 
with  a  little  synople,  and  fill  up  the  solid  parts,  but  that  which 
is  laid  on  the  rose  colour  should  be  very  thin.  Then  take 
some  of  that  colour  and  lay  it  on  the  eyebrows,  and  under  the 
feet,  on  the  mouth,  chin,  neck,  and  ears.  Then  draw  as  it 
were  veins,  and  then  with  pure  lake  mark  the  eye-lashes,  nos* 
trils,  eyes,  and  limbs.  Then  shade  again  lightly  with  lake 
mixed  with  a  little  oil ;  then  whiten  the  lights  with  pure  white, 
and  then  draw  the  eyelids,  eyes,  and  other  membecs. 

318.  To  gild  with  gold  leaf. — Grind  well  some  gypsum  with 
piure  clean  water,  dry  it ;  then  grind  it  with  synople  like  rose, 
and  with  fish-glue  dissolved  in  very  good  white  wine,  and  with 
the  pencil  spread  it  where  you  please,  covering  well  with  it  the 
part  to  be  gilded.  Then  dry  it,  and  make  it  smooth  with  the 
knife,  apply  the  gold,  fix  it  with  the  haematite  and  polish  it, 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  301 

prandre  dune  oouleur  qui  soit  fidte  de  synople  et  docre  et  de 
chaux  et  de  pose  etc. ;  et  doivent  estre  murs  paint  plus  moiste 
que  aultre  chose  pour  ce  que  les  couleurs  se  tiennent  mieulx 
ensembles  et  soient  plus  fermes.  £t  doivent  toutes  couleurs 
pour  murs  estre  melles  avecques  chaux  yiye. 

316.  Noir  est  fait  de  charbon  broye  avec  eaue  ou  Tin  et 
destrempez  doile  ou  deil,  mais  le  bon  est  fisiit  darrement,^  etc 
Se  ce  nest  carbon  qui  est  fait  de  paille  de  fer  boulu  et  cuie 
avec  oille.  Ou  vous  prenez  escorce  dalne  et  le  broiez  en  cue 
avec  molure  de  ferre  en  yaue,  et  mettez  avec  arcement  et 
destrempez. 

317.  Chamure  dymages  se  fait  ainxi. — Prenez  vert  terrin 
blanc  et  laque,  et  mellez  ensemble  et  emplissiez  la  ou  vous 
Youldrez,  puis  faictes  ombre  de  vert  et  ocre  en  telle  maniere 
que  ce  soit  comme  vert  et  mellez  avecques  un  po  de  laque,  et 
dgnez  vos  lits,  et  puis  ombre  et  puis  rose  de  blanc  et  de 
synople,  et  roses  la  ou  vous  plaira,  puis  fiiites  chamure  docre 
et  de  blanc  et  dun  po  de  cinople  et  mettez  dedans  les  signe- 
mens  espes  et  dl  qui  sera  sur  la  rose  sera  tres  sutil,  puis 
prenez  de  celle  couleurs  et  mettez  sur  les  surcils  et  dessoubs 
les  piez  et  sur  la  bouche  et  au  menton  et  a  la  goile  et  aux 
oreilles.  £t  en  faut  si  comme  se  fiist  vains,  puis  designez  de 
pur  lac  les  cilles  et  narines  et  les  yeulx  et  tons  les  membres; 
£t  metez  de  rechief  dedens  umbre  legierement  et  de  lac  loig- 
nez  un  petit,  puis  le  blanchissez  de  blanc  pur,  puis  designez 
les  cilles  et  les  yeulz  et  les  autres  membres. 

318.  Pour  mettre  or  de  feuilles  battues. — ^Molez  ppse  tres 
bien  avec  yaue  pure  et  nette,  puis  le  sechiez,  puis  le  molez 
avec  cinope  si  comme  rose,  et  avec  cole  de  poisson  qui  soit 
fondue  avec  tres  bon  yin  blanc  et  le  mettez  au  pincel  la  ou 
vous  vouldrez  et  soit  bien  convert  et  le  sechiez  puis  le  raez  dun 
coustel  plainement  et  mettez  lor  dessus  et  le  fermez  de  ame- 

^  That  this  word  is  really  *'  atramentum/*  b  proved  by  a  gimilar  passage 
in  S.  Audemar— see  antey  No.  172.  See  also  <  Materials  for  a  History  of 
Painting  in  Oil,'  by  Mr.  EasUake,  p.  132,  n. ;  and  Halliweirs  <  Dictionary 
of  Archaic  and  Provincial  Words.* 


302  BfANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

and  if  it  does  not  sacceed  well,  take  the  above-mentioned  glue, 
spread  it  oyer  the  drawing,  and  over  that  the  gold  leal 


319.  Ifycu  wish  to  prepare  oil  far  distemperinff  aU  kinds  of 
colours. — ^Take  qoicklime,  and  equal  quantitiesof  ceruse  add 
oil ;  expose  these  to  the  sun  without  moving  it  for  a  month  or 
more,  as  the  longer  it  remains  the  better  it  .will  be.  Then 
strain  it  and  preserve  the  oil  well.  With  the  oil,  thus  kept  and 
prepared,  you  may  distemper  all  colours  either  separately  or 
mixed. 

320.  To  write  with  gold  cmd  silver, — Take  leaf  gold,  grind 
it  with  salt  on  the  marble,  leave  it  for  a  long  time  in  water, 
stir  it  and  let  it  settie.  Then  pour  off  the  water  to  remove  the 
salt,  and  the  gold  will  remain  at  the  bottom.  Distemper  it 
with  gum  for  writing,  and  the  letters  you  make  will  be  dark ; 
but  when  they  are  dry,  polish  them  with  a  tooth  and  they  will 
be  of  a  beautiful  yellow  shinii^  gold  colour.  If  you  choose 
you  may  write  with  ealvear  in  the  same  manner, 

321.  To  make  silver  letters  without  silver. — Grind  alum  with 
salt ;  then  wash  it  in  order  to  remove  the  salt ;  then  distemper 
it  with  gum  and  write  with  it.  When  it  is  dry,  if  you  polish 
it  with  the  tooth,  it  will  lose  its  darkness,  and  will  take  the 
colour  of  silver. 

322.  A  recipe  for  grinding  gold. — ^Take  some  very  fine  and 
pure  gold  filings,  grind  them  in  a  mortar  such  as  is  used  by 
the  apothecaries,  which  is  made  of  three  parts  copper  and  one 
part  of  tin  or  lead ;  such  are  their  mortars.  But  previous 
to  this,  your  gold  filings  should  be  well  washed  in  a  basin  or  in 
a  shell  with  a  pencil.  Then  grind  all  your  gold  in  the  above- 
mentioned  mortar,  so  that  when  finished  it  shall  be  left  dear. 
And  in  like  manner  you  may  grind  copper,  sUver,  brass, 
pewter,  and  all  other  metals ;  but  take  care  that  the  gold 
does  not  bum,  as  it  would  then  be  necessary  to  regrind  it. 
When  the  operation  is  finished,  remove  the  water  and  impi|- 
rities,  let  the  gold  settie,  then  place  it  over  the  coak  with  water, 
and  warm,  and  stir  it. 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  303 

tiste,  et  le  lissez.  £t  se  il  ne  vient  bien  prenez  de  la  cole 
deasus  dicte  et  metez  au  dessein,  et  tantost  la  feuille  de  lor 
dessos. 

319.  Si  vaus  vaulez  appareiUer  oile  pour  destremper  totUes 
mameres  de  caulears. — Prenes  chaux  vive  avec  autant  de  ce^ 
ruse  comme  est  de  loile,  puiz  metez  au  soleil  et  ne  le  movez 
juaques  a  ung  moyt  ou  plus  tar  quant  plus  y  sera,  et  mieulx 
yaudra,  puis  le  colez  et  gardez  tres  bien  loile,  et  de  celle  oille 
gardee  et  ainsi  preparee,  povez  destremper  toutes  couleurs  en- 
semble et  chacun  par  soy. 

320.  Pour  escrire  dor  et  darffent.—Tren  feuille  dor  et  la 
broye  sur  le  marbre  avec  sel,  puis  le  fay  estre  longuement  en 
eaue,  et  le  leve  et  laisse  rasseoir  puis  prenez  leaue  pour  oeter 
le  sel,  si  demourra  lor  au  fons.  Si  le  destrempe  a  gomme  et 
en  escri,  si  auras  lettre  noire  et  quant  elle  sera  seche,  si'  la 
poli  dun  dent,  si  sera  belle  et  gaune  et  luisant  en  bonne  cou- 
leur  dor,  et  ainsi  puez  tu  escrire  de  argent  se  tu  veulz. 

321.  Pour  faire  lettre  dargent  sans  argent. — Broyez  alun 
avec  sely  puis  le  leve  pour  oster  le  sel  puis  le  destrempe  a 
gomme  et  escri  et  quant  il  est  sec,  si  le  poli  du  dent,  si  perdra 
sa  noyete  et  ara  couleur  d'argent. 

322.  Pour  or  numler  recipe. — R.  tres  fin  or  lime  bien  menu 
et  le  broyez  en  un  moriier  suzille  tel  que  les  appoticaires  ont, 
cilz  de  cuiyre  les  trois  pars  et  la  quarte  partie  de  staing  ou  de 
plomb,  tels  sont  leurs  mortiers ;  mais  ayant  ce  doit  estre  yotre 
limeure  d'or  bien  layee  en  un  bachin  ou  en  une  conche  de 
limeterie  a  un  pincel  et  en  ce  mortier  dessus  dit,  molez  tant 
or  que  baye  qui  y  sera  mise  soit  au  departir  clere.  £t  en  telle 
maniere  pourrez  molez  cuiyre  argent  loton  estaing  et  tout 
autre  metail,  .mais  gardez  que  lor  ne  se  haerde  car  il  le  faul- 
droit  remouldre  de  rechief.  Et  quant  ce  sera  fait,  ostez  liaue 
et  les  ordures  et  laissiez  lautre  rasseoir,  puis  le  metez  sur  les 
cbarbons  ayec  eaue  et  le  chaufiez  et  mouyez. 


■w 


304  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BE6UE. 

323.  To  grind  gold,  and  how  it  should  be  softened* — ^Take 
well-filed  gold,  grind  it  well  on  a  porphyry  slab  with  two 
parts  of  sal  gem  [rock  salt],  a  little  yellow  sulphur  in  a  glass 
vessel,  changing  it  frequently  from  one  vessel  to  another  until 
it  is  well  washed  and  purified.  Then  put  it  into  a  horn,  and 
when  you  wish  to  use  it,  distemper  it  with  gum  arable,  which 
must  be  put  into  a  glass  vessel  with  water  and  exposed  to  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  until  it  is  dissolved.  When  it  is  dissolved  put 
it  into  a  saucer  with  as  much  silver  as  water,  and  let  it  be 
tepid  when  you  write  with  it,  which  you  must  do  the  same 
day  before  the  fire.  When  dry,  let  it  be  burnished  with  a 
tooth. 

324.  To  make  what  appear  to  be  gold  and  silver  letter s,  with- 
out the  use  of  either  gold  or  silver, — Make  very  thin  plates  of 
fine  brass  for  gold  letters,  of  fine  tin  for  silver  letters,  and 
each  separately ;  and  let  the  plates  be  as  thin  as  gold  leaf,  and 
let  them  be  well  ground  and  bruised  with  water  and  dried  in 
the  sun,  and  then  strained  through  a  cloth ;  afterwards  regrind 
the  coarser  portion  which  remains  in  the  cloth  in  a  mill  or 
mortar  of  iron  or  copper,  such  as  is  used  by  the  apothecaries. 
Then  fill  the  letters  or  portraits  with  minium,  if  you  mean  to 
gild,  but  if  you  intend  to  lay  on  silver  put  no  minium  ;  and  when 
the  minium  is  dry,  fill  those  letters  or  portraits,  by  means  of 
an  ass'-hair  pencil,  with  a  glue  made  in  the  following  manner. 

Boil  some  clean  and  white  pieces  of  the  leather  of  cows, 
oxen,  calves,  or  sheep,  early  in  the  morning,  until  two-thirds 
have  evaporated.  Then  pour  off  that  water,  add  some  fresh 
water,  and  boil  again  for  an  hour.  Then  pour  off  one-third  of 
the  water  and  let  the  rest  boil  for  two  hours  more,  when  you 
must  take  out  the  leather  and  keep  it  in  a  clean  vessel ;  and  if 
it  is  then  thick  and  sticks  to  the  fingers,  it  is  good ;  if  it  does 
not  do  so,  you  must  boil  it  again.  Then  take  some  of  this  glue 
and  put  it  into  a  vessel  over  the  coals,  and  while  hot  or  tepid, 
lay  it  on  those  portraits  or  letters  with  the  pencil.  Afterwards 
dust  on  to  it  the  said  brass  powder  or  tin  powder,  and  leave 
it  for  a  day  to  dry,  then  polish  it  with  a  tooth.     Again,  an- 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  305 

323.  Pour  escrire  dor  et  comment  il  se  doit  mottir. — Recevez 
or  bien  lime^  et  le  moulez  ires  bien  sur  une  porfire  avec  ij  pars 
de  salgemme  et  un  poy  de  souffire  jaune  et  moulez  tout  ce  tres 
bien  eDsamble  avee  lor  puis  en  vaissel  de  voire,  et  le  mettez 
souvent  de  vaissel  en  autre  tant  qu'il  soit  fort  bien  lavez  et 
bien  purifiez,  puis  le  mettez  en  un  comet.  Et  quant  vous  en 
vouldrez  ouvrer  si  le  destrempez  de  gomme  arabic  et  lequel 
mettez  avee  yaue  en  ung  vaissel  de  voire  au  soleil  afin  quil 
fonde.  Et  quant  il  sera  fondu,  mettez  avee  argent  autant 
comme  et  de  leaue  en  une  paelle  et  £sdtes  que  elle  soit  tiede 
quant  vous  vouldrez  escrire  et  escresiez  ce  jour  devant  le  feu. 
Et  quant  elle  sera  secbe  si  le  bumissez  dun  dent. 

324.  Pourjaire  lettre  qui  sembk  dor  et  dargent^  qui  na  ne  or 
ne  argent, — Face  plattes  moult  tenues  de  fin  loton  pour  lettre 
dor,  et  de  fin  estidng  pour  lettre  dargent,  et  chacun  a  part,  et 
soient  les  plates  tenues  comme  feuille  dor  a  dorer,  et  soit  molu 
tres  bien  et  crible  avee  yaue  et  laissie  seichr  au  soleil  et  coule 
par  ung  drapel  et  remoler  le  plus  gros  qui  demorra  en  le 
drapel  et  moule  tons  dits  en  ung  moulin  ou  mortier  de  cuivre 
ou  de  fer  tel  quil  sont  cbieux  les  appothicaires,  puis  emplissiez 
les  lettres  ou  pourtraictures  de  mine,  en  cas  que  veuillez  faire 
dor ;  et  se  dargent,  ne  y  mettez  point  de  mine,  puis  quant  le 
mine  est  mis  et  est  sech,  mettez  a  un  pincel  de  poil  dasne  en 
icelles  lettres  ou  pourtraictures  cole  ou  glus  facte  en  tele 
maniere. 

Faites  boulir  pieces  de  cuir  de  vaicbe  ou  de  boeuf  ou  de 
veau  ou  de  mouton  purs  et  blans,  du  matin  jusques  a  tierce, 
pus  ostez  leaue  et  metez  de  lautre  et  faittes  boulir  une  heure 
puis  ostez  le  tiers  de  leaue  et  laissiez  boulir  lautre  encore 
ii  heures  puis  ostez  les  cuirs  et  gardez  leaue  en  un  vaissel  pur 
et  net,  et  se  lautre  tour  elle  est  expresse  et  que  elle  se  tienne 
aux  doiz  elle  est  bonne.  Et  se  non  fiuctes  boulir  de  rechief 
puis  prenez  une  partie  de  ceste  cole  et  la  mettez  en  un  vaissel 
sur  les  cbarbons  et  la  mettez  chaude  ou  tiede  a  tout  le  pincel 
sur  icelles  lettres  ou  pourtraictures.  Et  tantost  mettez  dessus 
de  la  dicte  pouldre  de  loton  ou  de  celle  de  estaing  et  laissiez 

VOL.  I.  X 


306  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JKHAN  LE  BBGUE. 

other  way,  without  u^ing  braas  powder :  boil  parchment  with 
the  said  glue,  then  take  out  the  parchment,  and  put  much 
saffiron  with  the  glue,  and  let  them  cool  together.  In  the 
morning  give  your  parchment  a  coat  of  glue  on  a  very  smooth 
table,  lay  your  tin  powder  on  it,  and  then  leave  it  exposed 
to  the  sun  for  four  or  five  hours,  that  it  may  dry ;  after  this 
you  must  polish  it  with  a  boar's-tooth,  when  it  will  be  of  the 
colour  of  gold.  Or  thus,  scrape  your  parchment  with  a  knife 
where  you  wish  to  draw,  and  make  the  glue  with  the  saffiron 
boil  a  little.  Then  put  a  little  of  this  into  an  iron  spoon,  warm 
it  over  the  coals,  and  while  tepid,  lay  it  where  you  please,  by 
means  of  the  pencil,  having  your  powdered  tin  in  the  other 
hand,  which  you  must  then  apply  all  over  it,  and  burnish  it 
with  a  tooth.  Also,  if  you  wish  to  make  gold  letters,  put 
saffi*on  with  your  tin  and  glue ;  but  if  you  wish  them  to  be 
of  the  colour  of  silver,  use  no  saffiron;  after  this  you  may 
put  on  other  colours.  And  you  must  know  that  sometimes 
the  letters  become  pale ;  this  arises  either  from  its  not  being 
sufficiently  polished,  or  from  the  too  small  quantity  of  saf- 
fron. 

325.  If  you  wish  to  make  a  toater  proper  for  distempering 
all  colours. — Take  a  pound  of  lime  and  12  pounds  of  ashes  ;^ 
then  take  boiling  water  and  put  the  whole  together,  making 
them  boil  well ;  aftier  which  let  the  mixture  settle  and  strain 
it  through  a  cloth  ;  then  take  four  pounds  of  that  water,  heat 
it  well,  take  about  two  ounces  of  white  wax,  and  put  this  to  boil 
with  the  water ;  then  take  about  1}  oz.  of  fish-glue,  put  it  in 
water,  and  leave  until  it  is  well  softened,  and  as  it  were  melted, 
when  you  must  m^pulate  it  until  it  becomes  like  paste,  and 
throw  it  into  the  water  with  wax,  and  make  all  boil  together ; 
then  add  to  it  about  an  ounce  and  a  half  of  maatic,  and  boil 
it  with  the  other  ingredients.  Take  some  of  this  water  on  a 
knife-blade,  or  piece  of  iron,  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  done :  if 
it  is  like  glue,  it  is  all  right.    Strain  this  water  while  hot  or 

^  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  word  originally  written  was  cendreSj  and  not 
Flandres, 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  S07 

secher  par  un  jotir,  puis  polissiez  dun  dent  Item  autrement 
sans  pouldre  de  laton  boulez  parchemin  avec  la  dicte  cole  et 
ostez  le  parchemin  et  metez  foison  safran  avecques  la  cole  et 
laisaiez  refroidier  ensamble,  et  au  matin  fidctes  ou  liniez  le 
parchemin  de  rostre  cole  sur  one  table  bien  pleine,  et  mettez 
YOBtre  pouldre  destaing  dessus,  et  puis  le  laissdez  au  soleil 
secher  par  quatre  ou  cinq  heures,  puis  le  polissiez  dun  dent  de 
pore  et  sera  couleiu*  dor.  Ou  ainsi ;  raez  yostre  parchemin 
dun  coustel  la  ou  vous  vouldrez  pourtraire  et  Csdetes  la  cole 
avec  le  safran  un  tant  et  boulir  et  en  mettez  un  poy  en  une 
cuiller  de  fer  et  faictes  a  tiedir  sur  les  charbons,  et  en  prenez 
tout  tiede  et  en  mettez  au  pinceau  la  ou  vous  voulez  et  tenez 
la  pouldre  de  vostre  estaing  en  lautre  main  et  le  appliquez 
tantost  dessus  et  laissiez  secher  et  bumissez  a  un  dent.  Item 
se  vous  voulez  faire  lettre  dor  mettez  safran  avecques  vostre 
estaing  et  vostre  cole.  Et  se  vous  voulez  dargent,  si  ny  mettez 
point  de  safran.  Et  apres  pourrez  vous  mettre  les  autres  cou- 
leurs,  et  est  a  savoir  que  la  lettre  aucune  fois  palist,  et  cost 
quant  elle  nest  mie  bien  polie  ou  quant  on  ni  met  pas  le  safran 
a  point. 

325.  Se  v&us  voulez  faire  yam  conosite  a  destremper  tautes 
cQuleurs. — Prenez  ime  hvre  de  chaux  et  douze  de  Flandres 
puis  prenez  eaue  boulant  et  metez  tout  ensamble  et  les  faictes 
assez  bouKr  puis  le  laissiez  bien  reposer,  puis  le  coulez  bien 
parmy  un  drapel  et  de  celle  yaue  prenez  livres  quatre  et  la 
faictes  bien  ardoir,  puis  prenez  eire  blanche  environ  ii.  onces  et 
la  mettez  boulir  avec  lyaue  puis  prenez  cole  de  poisson  environ 
j  once  et  ^,  et  la  mettez  en  eaue  et  li  liussiez  tant  quelle  soit 
bien  emollie  et  si  comme  fondue  puis  la  maniez  tant  que  elle 
soit  comme  paste  puis  la  mettez  en  lyaue  avec  la  cire  et  la 
fidtes  ensamble  boulir,  et  mettez  mastic  dedens  environ  once  et 
demie  et  faictes  boulir  ensamble,  puiz  prenez  de  ceste  eaue  et 
mettez  sur  un  coustel  ou  sur  fer  pour  savoir  sil  est  bien  cuit 
et  sil  est  comme  glue  il  est  bien.    Puis  adonc  coulez  celle 


x2 


308  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

tepid  through  a  linen  cloth,  let  it  settle,  and  cover  it  well. 
With  this  water  you  may  distemper  all  kinds  of  colours. 

326.  To  make  skins  and  all  other  things  of  a  red  colour^  or 
any  other  colour. — First  put  the  skins  in  alum-water  which  has 
been  boiled  with  some  bran,  and  then  skim  it  well  and  let  it 
settle,  and  when  the  heat  of  the  water  is  so  reduced  that  it  is 
just  tepid,  so  as  not  to  bum  the  skins,  throw  them  in.  After 
this  you  must  dry  them ;  then  boil  some  brazil  wood  in  the 
above -mentioned  water,  and  when  it  is  well  boiled  sew  your 
skins  into  the  form  of  bags,  and  fill  them  with  the  said  water 
while  tepid  and  not  boiling,  as  in  that  case  the  skins  would 
bum :  they  will  thus  be  well  coloured.  And  in  this  manner 
you  may  stain  anything  with  any  colour. 

327.  To  gild  copper  or  brass  without  gold. — Take  clean  and 
pure  brass  or  copper,  and  scrape  it  well  with  a  knife,  and  bur- 
nish it  with  a  boar's  tooth ;  then  grind  some  ox-gall  or  other 
suitable  thing ;  then  take  your  pen  or  pendl,  soak  it  in  the 
gall,  mb  it  on  the  above-mentioned  brass  or  copper,  and  let  it 
dry.  Do  this  three  times  and  you  will  have  a  colour  similar 
to  gold. 

328.  To  make  fine  letters  of  gold. — Grind  gold  and  mercury 
together,  put  them  into  a  crucible  over  the  fire  until  the  mercuiy 
is  evaporated ;  then  stir  the  gold  well  until  it  is  reduced  to 
powder,  when  you  must  grind  it  up  with  saffiron  boiled  in  water, 
and  expose  it  to  the  sun  in  a  phial  with  gum-water.  When 
you  use  it,  take  it  firom  the  sun  and  write  with  it 

329.  If  you  wish  to  make  three  kinds  of  vestures  on  parch' 
mentf  one  purple  or  red^  another  violet^  and  another  white. — Mix 
together  a  green  made  from  the  juice  of  any  herb  with  a  little 
ochre,  and  with  this  fill  the  vesture  of  the  pourtrayed  image. 
As  to  the  second  mix  a  little  cinople  with  orpiment,  and  with 
this  fill  the  dress  of  the  other  image.  For  the  third  mix  orpi- 
ment with  the  juice  of  a  tree  called  in  Latin  sambucus,  and  in 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JBHAN  J^  BE6UB.  309 

yaue  chaude  ou  tiede  parmi  ung  drap  linge,  et  laissiez  reposer 
et  la  covrez  bien  et  de  celle  eaue  povez  destremper  toutes 
manieres  de  cotdeurs. 

326.  Pcur  taindre  peaux  et  tatties  autres  ekoses  en  couleur 
rouffe^  et  en  toutes  autres  couleurs,  — Mettez  lea  peaulx  premiere- 
ment  en  eaue  alumee,  qui  soit  boulie  et  du  son  dedens  et  puis 
laissiez  bien  escumer  et  reposer,  et  quant  leaue  ne  sera  que 
tiede  tellement  que  en  mettant  les  peaulx  dedens  elles  nardent, 
mettez  lors  dedens  celle  eaue  les  dictes  peaulx  puis  les  mettez 
sechier,  puis  fidctes  boulir  bresil  dedens  leaue  dessus  dicte  et 
quant  elle  sera  tres  bien  cuite  cousez  yos  peaulx  en  maniere 
de  sacz  et  mettez  leaue  dessus  dicte  dedens,  tiede  comme  dit 
est  et  non  boillant  afin  que  les  peaulx  nardent,  et  ainsi  seront 
elles  tres  bien  coulorees.  Et  par  ceste  maniere  povez  taindre 
toutes  choees  et  de  toutes  cotdeurs. 

327.  A  dorer  cuivre  au  arain  sans  or. — Prenez  arain  ou 
cuiyre  pur  et  net,  et  le  reez  bien  dun  coustel,  puiz  le  bumisfflez 
dun  dent  de  pore  puis  moulez  fiel  de  torel  ou  autre  chose  con- 
venable,  puiz  prenez  vostre  penne  ou  vostre  pincel  et  le  moil- 
liez  au  dit  fiel  et  en  frotez  sur  le  cuivre  ou  arain  dessus  dit,  et 
laissiez  secher,  et  se  faictes  pour  trois  fois,  si  aurez  couleur 
semblable  dor. 

328.  A  f  aire  lettre  dor  Jin. — ^Molez  or  et  vif  argent  ensamble 
et  mettez  en  un  crosol  sur  le  feu  tant  que  le  vif  argent  soit 
evapore,  puis  le  movez  tres  bien  tant  que  ce  soit  pourre,  puis 
molez  safran  avecques  et  les  cuisez  en  yaue,  puis  le  metez  en 
yaue  de  gomme  au  soleil  en  un  fiale,  et  quant  vous  vouldrez 
escrire  prenez  la  fiale  au  soleil  et  du  dit  or  escrisiez. 

329.  Se  vous  voulez  faire  trois  manieres  de  vestemens  en 
parcheminy  lun  pourpre  ou  rouffey  hxutre  violet^  et  lautre  blau. 
— MeUez  ensemble  vert  avec  jus  daucune  herbe  et  y  adjoustez 
un  po  docre  et  emplissiez  le  yestement  de  limage  pourtraicte. 
£t  en  aprez  pour  le  second,  mellez  un  po  de  dnople  avec  or- 
piment  et  emplissiez  le  yestement  de  lautre  ymage.  Tierce- 
ment  mellez  orpiment  avec  jus  des  feuilles  dun  arbres  qui  es 


I 


310  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  L£  BEGUE. 

French  seur,*  and  fill  the  third  dress  with  this.    But  these  are 
not  good  on  walls. 

330.  To  make  a  colour  which  is  called  venede  or  vemeda} — 
Take  black,  and  mix  white  lead  with  it,  if  it  is  to  he  used  on 
parchment,  but  if  it  is  to  be  used  on  walls  employ  lime  instead 
of  the  said  white  lead. 

331.  To  make  a  green  colour  for  writings — ^Mix  good  lineggr 
with  sour  honey,  and  put  it  in  a  [copper]  vessel  und^  very  hot 
dung.    In  12  days  it  will  be  of  a  beautiful  green. 

332.  To  make  a  Hood-like  colour  which  is  called  lake. — ^In 
the  month  of  March  cut  some  ivy,  which  in  Latin  is  caUed 
edera,  and  which  climbs  on  the  trees  and  forests,  and  put  the 
juice  which  exudes  into  a  glass  vessel  every  three  days; 
then  boil  it  in  urine  and  use  it  in  drawing  with  the  pen<nl. 

333.  The  following  is  for  tempering  iron  and  steel. — When 
the  he-goat  is  in  heat  take  his  blood  and  temper  your  iron  or 
steel  in  this  ;  it  then  becomes  very  hard.  The  he-goat  is  an 
animal  whose  Latin  name  is  hyrcus. 

334.  To  make  tine,  colour  of  red  roses. — Put  some  Brazil 
wood  raspings  into  an  earthen  vessel  glazed  with  lead,  adding 
urine  and  powdered  alum ;  let  it  stand  for  a  ni^t,  and  in  the 
morning  place  it  over  the  coals  without  flame  and  boil  it  well 
for  a  little ;  then  take  it  off  the  fire,  add  a  little  powdered 
quick  lime,  and  mix  it  weU  with  the  other  ingredients ;  then 
pour  off  the  clear  part,  and  dry  that  which  is  thick  so  that  you 
may  use  it  when  necessary. 

335.  If  you  wish  to  redden  tables  or  other  things. — Take 
linseed,  or  hemp-seed,  or  nui-oil  and  mix  it  with  minium  or 
cinople  on  a  stone  without  water ;  then  widi  a  pencil  illuminate 
what  you  wish  to  redden  with  this. 

336.  To  write  tcith  gold.—GnDd  gold  with  clear  and  pure 
wine,  then  pour  off  the  wine  and  distemper  it  with  gum  or  ox- 
gall.   When  you  desire  to  paint  or  write  with  it,  you  must  stir 


1  The  elder.  '  See  Theophilus,  lib.  i.  c.  iri. 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  311 

nomme  en  Latin  sambtums^  et  en  Francois  seur^  et  emplissiez 
le  tiers  yestement,  mais  en  murs  ils  ne  sent  pas  bons. 

330.  A  f aire  une  coukur  qui  se  nomme  venede  ou  veneda. — 
Prenez  couleur  noir  et  y  mellez  nn  pou  de  blanc  de  plomb 
avec  ponr  mettre  en  parchemin,  mais  se  vons  vonlez  le  mettre 
en  mnr,  mettez  en  lieu  du  dit  blanc  plomb  de  la  chaux. 

831.  A  f aire  couleur  verde  pour  eJBcrire. — ^Mellez  bon  vin 
aigre  avec  miel  aigre,  et  le  mettez  en  un  vaissel  en  fiens  bien 
cbaut  et  li  laissiez  donze  jom^  et  sera  bon  vert. 

332.  Pour  faire  couleur  sanguine  qui  est  appelee  laque. — 
Trenchiez  du  mois  de  mars  yerre,  qui  est  une  herbe  en  Latin 
appelee  edera^  et  rampe  sur  les  arbres  et  forets,  et  recevez  en 
un  vaissel  de  voirre  le  jus  qui  en  ystra  de  iij  jours  en  trois 
jours,  et  le  cuisiez  en  orine  et  puis  en  ouvrez  au  pinceau  vos 
portraictures. 

333.  Trempeure  defer  et  dacier  forte  se  fait  ainsi. — Quant 
le  bouc  est  en  amour,  se  on  prent  son  sang,  et  on  y  trempe  de- 
dens  fer  ou  acier.  H  est  moult  dur,  et  le  bouc  est  beste  que 
on  nomme  en  Latin  yrchus. 

334.  A  faire  couleur  de  roses  vermeiUes. — Baez  bresil  en  un 
vaissel  de  terre  plomme  et  y  metez  de  lorine  et  aussi  pouldre 
dalun,  et  le  laissiez  une  nuit  reposer,  et  a  landemain  le  mettez 
sur  les  charbons  sans  flambe,  et  le  faites  tres  bien  boulir  une 
onde  ou  deux,  puis  lostez  du  feu  et  mettez  avec  un  pou  de 
chaux  vive  en  pouldre,  et  mellez  tres  bien  ensamble,  et  ostez 
le  cler,  et  mettez  lespez  secher  pour  garder  et  pour  en  ouvrez 
quant  est  besoing. 

335.  Si  vous  voulez  rougir  tables  ou  autres  chases. — Prenez 
oile  de  lin  ou  de  chanvre  ou  de  noiz,  et  mellez  avec  mine  ou 
cinope  sur  une  pierre  sans  yaue.  Puis  en  luminez  a  un  pincel 
ce  que  vous  voulez  rougir. 

336.  Pour  escrire  dor. — Molez  or  avec  vin  cler  et  pur,  puis 
lostez  du  vin  et  le  destrempez  de  gomme  ou  de  fiel  de  torel, 
et  quant  vous  vouldrez  paindre  ou  escrire,  si  le  mouvez  et  en 


Ill  ■!        _     .1  ^^    ^i  V   I.    V  ai        % 


312  MANUSCRIPTS  OP  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

it  and  use  it  with  a  pen  or  pencil,  and  when  dry  polish  with  a 
boar's  tooth. 

337.  Several  modes  of  distempering  s(xffron.  —  Safiron  is 
sometimes  distempered  with  water,  sometimes  with  egg,  some- 
times with  wine ;  but  the  best  way  is  to  put  the  safiron 
into  a  dean  vessel  with  a  great  quantity  of  water  until  it  Ls 
soaked,  and  then  to  boil  it  over  the  coals.  You  may  then  write 
or  paint  with  it  whatever  you  please,  and  you  must  know  Uiat 
saf&on  is  redder  when  distempered  with  wine. 

338.  To  make  green.— l&oW,  the  leaves  of  the  Morelle  [sa- 
lanum  nigrum]  with  ochre  and  grind  them  on  a  stone.  If  you 
were  to  put  saffi*on  instead  of  ochre,  or  safiron  and  ochre,  the 
colour  would  be  very  good. 

339.  To  paint  and  write  with  gold  on  clotkj  parchment^  tables, 
and  everything  else. — Fill  a  glass  vessel  with  urine  and  let  it 
settle  until  it  is  clear,  then  take  two  parts  of  white  of  egg  and 
mix  it  with  your  firesh  urine  and  put  it  with  some  dissolved  or 
ground  gold  into  the  horn  ;  and  with  this  gold  you  may  write  as 
with  any  other  colour,  and  paint  on  cloths  and  aU  other  things. 

340.  To  make  the  colours  offxnwets. — ^At  the  rising  of  the 
sun  go  into  the  fields  and  collect  divers  com  flowers  and  other 
herbs ;  bruise  and  grind  each  kind  of  flower  separately  with 
well-baked  gypsum,  then  dry  them  and  keep  each  colour  se- 
parately so  as  to  be  ready  when  wanted  for  use ;  and  if  you 
wish  for  a  green  colour  mix  quick  lime  with  the  flowers  and 
you  will  have  a  good  colour. 

341.  To  make  a  good  liquid  varnish  for  painters. — Take 
glasse  aromatique,  which  is  dark  or  dull  outside,  and  inside 
when  broken  is  clear  and  shining  like  glass ;  put  some  of  it  in 
a  new  jar,  which  must  stand  on  the  mouth  of  anoth^  jar, 
which  must  be  well  luted  to  it.  The  upper  jar  must  be  well 
covered  so  as  to  be  smoke-proof,  and  its  bottom  must  be 
pierced.  Tlien  light  a  fire  beneath  it,  and  leave  it  until  the 
glasse  is  melted,  when  you  must  take  two.  parts  of  linseed,  or 


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MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGU£.  318 

ouvrez  a  la  penne  ou  au  pincel  et  quand  il  est  sec  polissiez  le 
dun  dent  de  sangler. 

337.  A  destremper  mfran  en  plusieurs  mameres. — Safran  est 
aucunefbiz  destrempez  dyaue  aucunefois  doenf  aucunefois  de 
Tin,  mais  la  meilleur  maniere  et  de  mettre  le  safran  en  yaue 
en  un  vaissel  bien  net  jusques  a  tant  quil  soit  confis  et  fault 
quil  ny  ait  une  grant  quantite  deaue,  puis  le  mettez  sur  les 
charbons  boulir  un  po  ensamble  et  puis  en  eorisiez  on  paindez 
ce  que  vous  vouldrez ;  et  est  a  savoir  quant  le  safran  est  de- 
strempe  de  yin,  il  est  plus  rouge. 

338.  Pour /aire  vert. — Cuisez  feuille  de  morelle  avee  oere 
puis  le  broyez  sur  la  pierre.  Et  cui  y  mettroit  safran  en  lieu 
de  locre,  et  autour  avec  locre,  bon  seroit. 

339.  A  paindre  et  escrire  dor  sur  teltes^  parcheminsy  au  tables, 
et  taiUes  autres  chases. — Emplissiez  de  votre  orine  un  vaissel  de 
Yoirre  et  si  le  laissiez  reposer  tant  que  elle  soit  bien  claire, 
puis  prenez  glaire  doefi  tres  bonne  deux  parties  et  les  meslez 
avec  Yostre  orine  novelle  ensemble,  et  le  mettez  avec  or  solut 
ou  broye,  dedens  le  comet  et  de  cest  or  povez  ei^rire  comme 
dautre  couleur,  et  paindre  sur  draps  et  toute  autres  choses. 

340.  Afaire  cauleurs  dejleurs, — ^Alez  au  matin  soleil  levant 
aux  champs  et  assemblez  diverses  fleurs  de  bles  et  dautres 
herbes,  et  criblez  bien  et  molez  chacun  par  soy  avec  gips  bien 
cuit,  et  mettez  le  sechier  et  gardez  chascun  par  lui  et  en  ouvrez 
quant  est  besoing.  Et  quant  vous  vouldrez  avoir  couleur 
verde,  meslez  chaux  vive  avecques  les  dictes  fleurs,  et  avez 
bonne  couleur. 

341.  A  faire  bonne  vemix  liquide  paur  paintres. — Prenez 
glasse  aromatique  qui  est  obscur  par  dehors  et  par  dedens 
quant  on  le  brise  il  est  cl^  et  luisant  a  maniere  de  voirre  et  en 
mettez  une  partie  en  un  pot  neuf  qui  soit  assis  sur  la  bouche 
dun  autre  pot  et  aoient  bien  lute  ensamble,  et  le  pot  denhault 
bien  convert  que  fumee  nen  ysse  et  soit  percie  au  fons  et  faites 
feu  dessoubz,  tant  que  vous  santez  que  la  glasse  sera  fondue. 
Puis  prenez  oile  de  lin,  ou  de  chanvre,  ou  de  noix  deux  parties, 


814  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JBHAX  LE  BE6UE. 

hemp-seed,  or  nulHiil,  and  heat  diis  oil  slowly  over  a  fire,  not 
making  it  too  hot.  You  most  then  poor  it  on  to  the  said 
glasse,  make  the  fire  hotter,  and  let  it  boll  for  an  hour,  taking 
care  that  the  flame  does  not  touch  it.  Then  take  it  off  the  fire 
and  put  it  into  a  clean  vessel,  and  when  you  wish  to  varnish 
any  dry  painting  take  some  of  this  liquid  and  spread  it  over 
the  painting  with  your  fingers,  fer  if  you  were  to  do  it  with  a 
pencil  it  'would  be  too  thick  and  would  not  dry.  You  will 
thus  have  good  varnish. 

342.  To  make  a  yellow  colour. — Cook  some  vemide  well  in 
a  clear  ley,  add  to  it  a  little  verdigris,  and  distemper  it  with 
black,  and  the  more  verdigris  you  add  the  redder  it  will  be ; 
for  instance,  2  oz.  of  verdigris  and  5  of  vercande,  put  the 
thread  in  while  it  is  hot  or  boiling  and  it  will  ^ve  you  satis- 
faction. 

343.  The  nature  and  condition  of  minium,  sandaraca^^  and 
ceruse^  and  the  way  to  distemper  them. — They  are  all  of  the 
same  kind  and  nature,  but  when  exposed  to  heat  they  change 
their  name,  strength,  and  colour ;  for  that  which  is  the  most 
heated  is  the  reddest,  and  that  which  is  the  least  heated  is  the 
whitest  or  palest,  and  they  should  be  distempered  with  water 
for  mason's  work,  with  egg  for  parchment,  and  with  oil  for 
wood. 

344.  To  make  a  colour  which  is  called  pose  for  the  undraped 
parts  of  images. — ^Mix  a  little  cynobre  with  simple  flesh  colour 
and  a  little  minium  and  you  will  have  the  said  pose'  colour^ 
with  which  you  will  redden  teeth  (gums),  nostrils,  mouths, 
hands,  the  under  part  of  necks,  the  wrinkles  of  foreheads,  the 
temples^  and  the  articulations  and  other  members  in  all  the 
undraped  parts  of  painted  and  round  figures. 

345.  To  make  two  cobmrSy  one  called  lumine^  and  the  other 

cedre  or  excedrcj  for  the  undraped  parts  of  figures, — Mix  flesh 

-  - '  ■  -    - 

'  The  colour  here  called  sandaiuoe  appean  from  the  deacription  to  have 
been  masaicot. 
s  See  ante,  p.  300,  No.  315. 
3  See  Theophilus,  lib.  i.  c.  v.  ix.  and  ziii. 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LB  BE6UE.  315 

et  le  chauffez  au  feu  petit  a  petit  et  se  fi  laimez  pas  trop 
chauffer,  puis  le  getez  par  dessus  a^ec  la  dicte  glasse,  et  failes 
bon  feu  et  le  fidtes  bien  boulir  par  lespace  dune  heure,  et 
gardez  tres-bien  que  la  flamme  ue  la  tourbe.  Puis  lostez  du 
feu  et  mettez  en  vaissel  cler  et  net,  et  quant  aucune  euvre  de 
painture  sera  &ite  et  seche  et  la  Youlez  remicier  si  prenez  de 
ceste  liqueur  et  la  tandez  dessus  la  painture  a  toz  doiz ;  car 
se  Yous  le  fisisiez  du  pincel  il  seroit  trop  espez  et  ne  pourroit 
secher,  et  ainsi  avez  bonne  vemix. 

342.  A  f aire  ctmleurjaune. — Cuisiez  bien  Temide  en  lexiye 
clere  et  nette  et  y  mettez  un  po  de  vert  de  gris  et  le  de- 
strempez  de  seiu^  et  quant  plus  y  mettez  du  yert  de  gris  et 
plus  sera  rouge  s.  ij  oz.  de  vert  de  gris  et  ▼  de  vercande, 
puis  mettez  dedans  le  fil  tiede  ou  boulant,  et  sera  a  vostre 
plaisir. 

343.  La  nature  et  eonditian  de  mine,  saiidarace,  et  ceruse,  et 
la  mamere  de  la  destremper,  et  que  ils  eant  dune  maniere  et  dune 
nature,  mats  par  feu  ilz  muent,  noms,  force^  et  catdeurs. — Car 
celui  qui  est  plus  cuit  et  plus  rouge  et  le  moin  cuit  est  le  plus 
blanc  ou  plus  pale,  et  doivent  estre  deetrempez  deaue  en  ma- 
connage  et  de  oeufi  en  parchemin,  et  de  oille  en  sustages. 


344.  A  f  aire  une  eouleur  qui  ett  appelee  pose  pcfwr  faire  h 
nus  de  ymages. — ^Mettez  avec  simple  membrane  un  poi  de 
cynobre  et  un  poi  de  mine,  et  vous  avez  la  dicte  eouleur  posc^ 
de  laquelle  vous  rougirez  dens,  naselles,  bouche,  mains,  col 
par  dessoubs^  et  les  fronces  du  front,  et  les  tremples,  et  les 
articles  et  les  autres  membres  en  tons  nus  dimages  pourtraictes 
et  rondes. 

345.  Pour  faire  deux  couhurs,  lune  appelee  lunrine  et  lautre 
eedre  au  excedre,  pour  le  nud  des  ymo^^.-— Mellez  avec  <^obre 


316  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

colour,  well-groimd  ceruse,  and  verblee  [vertbleu]  with  cynobre, 
and  you  will  have  a  colour  which  is  called  luminej  with  which 
you  will  illuminate  the  eyebrows,  the  upper  part  of  the  nose, 
and  the  nostrils  with  very  fine  lines.  The  other  colour  is  made 
by  mixing  red  with  a  little  black,  which  produces  a  colour  called 
cedre  or  excedre,  with  which  you  will  make  the  touches  round 
the  pupils  of  the  eyes. 

346.  To  make  a  glue  for  flesh. — Take  the  root  of  the  plant 
which  is  called  "  stipatum,'*  put  it  into  a  cauldron  or  kettle  with 
pieces  of  flesh  boiled  in  water ;  when  cold,  the  water  will  coagu- 
late, and  is  called  '*  gelantina."  And  pure  water  in  which  the  said 
roots  are  boiled  is  useful  for  distempering  colours  on  account 
of  the  glutinous  properties  which  it  takes  firom  the  root ;  and 
even  if  that  root  alone  was  left  in  water  for  a  day  and  night 
without  being  boiled  it  will  be  of  equal  yalue. 

347.  Water  for  tempering  colours. — ^Water  in  which  linseed- 
oil  has  been  steeped  for  a  day  and  night  receives  a  glutinous 
quality  from  that  seed,  which  makes  it  proper  for  distempering 
colours. 

348.  To  preoeni  anything  made  of  burnished  iron  or  steel 
from  rusting. — ^Take  saltpetre,  otherwise  called  afronitre,^  or 
sal  nitre,  of  the  size  of  a  nut,  and  half  a  goblet  of  olive  oil, 
distemper  and  boil  the  whole  together,  then  strain  through  a 
linen  cloth  and  keep  it  clean,  and  anoint  with  it  the  said  things, 
or  armour,  or  other  works  by  means  of  a  linen  or  woollen  cloth, 
which  must  be  moistened  with  the  oil  without  laying  it  on  too 
thickly ;  for  it  is  better  to  lay  it  on  thinly  and  then  at  any 
time  after  two  or  three  months  the  articles  may  be  again 
rubbed  down  with  the  oiled  rag. 

349.  To  make  fine  azure. — You  must  take  the  Indian  or 
Persian  azure  stone  which  comes  from  beyond  the  sea,  and 
which  is  kept  by  the  apothecaries,  who  use  it  in  some  of  their 
medicines.  That  which  has  white  veins  is  better  than  that 
which  has  gold  veins,  and  if  you  heat  it  over  the  fire  on  a  hot 

I  Froth  of  nitre.     The  saline  excrescence  which  forms  on  walls. 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEOUE.  817 

membrane  ceruse  bien  molue  et  verblee  si  avez  oouleur  qui 
est  appellee  lumine,  de  laquelle  vous  enluminerez  les  sourdls, 
le  nez  au  long,  et  sur  les  pertuis  des  narines,  faisant  les  trais 
soubtilz ;  et  lautre  est  se  vous  mellez  avec  rouge  un  po  de  noir 
Tous  avez  oouleur  qui  est  nommee  cedre  ou  excedre,  de  quoi 
vous  ferez  les  trais  environ  les  pupiUes. 

346.  Ad  geUantinam  camium  faeiendam. — ^Herba  qusedam 
stipatum  vocata  est,  ejus  radix  in  cacabo  vel  lebete  posita  cum 
camium  frustris  in  aqua  coquentibus  ea  coagulat  cum  ad  fri- 
gidatem  reducuntur  quae  sic  gelantana  vocantur,  et  aqua  pura 
in  qua  bulirentur  ipsss  radices  dictse  herbse  utilis  esset  ad  tem* 
perandum  oolores,  pro  ejus  glutiniodtate  ab  ibsa  radice  sumpta. 
Ac  etiam  si  solum  radix  ipsa  in  aqua  staret  per  diem  et  noctem 
saltim,  absque  quam  bulita  seque  valeret 

347.  Aqua  in  qua  semen  lini  diu  per  diem  et  noctem  saltim 
steterit,  recipit  ab  ipso  semine  glutinositatem  quae  ipsam  £Eunt 
aptam  ad  distemperandimi  colores. 

348.  Paurgarder  denreuUir  aucune  chose  defer  ou  dacier 
bumies. — ^Prenez  salpetre,  autrement  appellee  assafetide  [afiro- 
nitre  ?]  ou  salnitre,  le  gros  dune  noiz  et  la  moitie  dun  gobelet 
duille  dolive,  et  deffutes  tout  ensemble,  et  le  faites  boulir,  et 
puis  le  coulez  par  un  drapel  de  lin  et  le  gardez  nettement  et 
en  oindez  les  dictes  choses  armoures  ou  autres  besoignes  a  un 
drapel  de  lin  ou  de  laine  qui  seroit  meUleur  moillie  en  icelltu 
ille  sans  le  mettre  trop  gros,  car  il  est  mietdz  a  le  mettre 
delie,  et  puis  aucime  fois  de  deux  ou  troiz  moiz  les  torcher  et 
remettre. 

349.  Pour  faire  Jin  azur. — ^Vous  devez  prendre  la  pierre  de 
lazur  qui  est  Inde  ou  Pers,  et  vient  des  parties  doultremer,  et 
se  treuve  sur  les  appothicaires  qui  en  font  aucunes  medicines ; 
et  celle  qui  a  vaines  blanches  vault  mieulx  que  celle  que  les  a 
dor,  et  se  vous  le  mettez  ou  feu  recuire,  ou  sur  une  platine  de 


818  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  L£  BBGUE. 

plate  of  iron  and  when  cool  find  it  of  the  same  colour  as  before, 
it  is  good.  If  you  buy  the  said  atone  in  powder,  you  must 
prove  it  in  this  maimer,  and  then  pound  and  grind  it  well  on  a 
flat  piece  of  porphyry  oc  other  hard  stone ;  then  make  a 
cement  of  turpentine  and  to  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  the  said 
powder  by  weight  add  4^  ounces  of  turpentme,  and  mix  and 
incorporate  together  the  powder  and  turpentine  in  a  well- 
glazed  earthen  yessel,  the  turpentine  being  tepid  before  the 
powder  is  put  into  it.  You  must  leave  them  in  this  state  for  the 
sface  of  sixteen  houi«  or  thereabouts ;  then  heat  some  water 
until  it  IB  tepid,  throw  it  into  die  pot  until  the  said  mixture  is 
cov^ed  with  k,  and  stir  the  whole  well  together  quickly  and 
for  a  long  time  with  a  stick ;  then  t^i^e  the  water,  which  will 
be  rendered  opaque  by  the  Uue  c€ikNir«  1^  ^^  clear,  and  throw 
it  into  another  new  well-glazed  earthen  vessel,  and  let  it  settle, 
when  the  blue  will  Ml  to  the  batt<NB ;  then  pour  some  more 
water  AU  the  mixtW9  and  stir  it  border  than  before,  and  throw 
the  water,  which  will  thus  be  £all  of  the  blue  colour,  into 
another  clean  glazed  vessel,  and  let  it  settle,  when  the  blue  will 
fall  to  the  bottom.  Then  pour  in  tepid  wat^  for  the  third 
time,  and  stir  the  said  mixture  of  turpentine  and  blue ;  pour 
off  the  water  into  another  pot  and  let  it  settle,  then  pour  the 
water  off  ^31  three  vessels,  dry  the  blue  and  keep  it.  The 
finst  will  be  worth  its  weig)>t  in  gold^  the  second  its  weight  in 
silver,  and  the  third  is  good  for  making  grounds.  For  this 
reason  each  sort  should  be  kept  apart. 

850.  When  a  horse  has  had  and  troubled  eyes. — Take  three 
or  £[>ur  leav^  of  waide  [woad?]  and  the  white  of  an  egg,  with 
salt  of  the  size  of  a  bean ;  put  all  these  things  in  an  egg-ahdl ; 
sweep  the  hearthstone  c^ean ;  put  it  <m  it,  and  let  it  dry  until 
it  can  be  easily  powdered,  then  apply  to  the  eye  of  tiie  hone. 

351.  To  cure  quartan  feuers.  —  Take  an  herb  which  is 
called  '^  tettes  de  souijs,"  of  the  sue  of  a  gallr-nut,  distemper  it 
with  white  wine,  and  make  the  sick  person  drink  it  on  the  day 
he  expects  to  be  seized  with  this  fever :  he  will  be  immediately 
cured. 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  319 

fer  chaude  chaufer  et  puis  le  laisaiez  refirmdier  et  il  revieut  ou 
est  de  telle  couleur  que  derant  il  est  bon.  Et  pareillement 
eprouverez  au  feu  la  poudre  de  la  dicte  pierre  se  vous  lachetez 
broye  puis  le  devez  bien  broyer  et  mouldre  bien  sutil  sur  \me 
pierre  platte  de  porfire  ou  autre  bien  dure.  Puis  faites  siment 
de  termentina  et  pour  un  quarteron  de  la  dicte  pouldre  a  pois 
fault  iiij  onces  et  demie  de  termentine,  et  doit  on  en  une  paelle 
de  terre  bien  plommee  encorporer  et  mesler  la  dicte  pouldre  et 
pierre  ou  azur,  avec  la  termantine  qid  soit  un  pou  tiede,  avant 
que  la  pouldre  y  soit  mise  et  laissier  ainsi  par  lespace  de  seize 
heures  ou  environ ;  et  puis  chauffez  de  leaue  que  elle  soit  tiede 
et  en  boutez  en  la  paelle  grant  foisoQ  tant  que  celle  mixtion 
soit  couverte  et  remues  ce  bien  et  fort  et  hastivement  et 
longuement  a  un  bastonnet.  Et  liaue  qui  lors  sera  bien 
trouble  de  lazur,  purez  et  boutez  en  une  autre  paiellete  de 
terre  neuf^e  bien  plommee  et  la  mettez  rasseoir  et  vostre  azur 
se  traira  au  fons.  Puis  mettez  encor  sur  la  dicte  mixtion  de 
leaue  tiede  et  remuez  plus  fort  que  devant,  et  puis  leaue  qui 
ainsi  sera  trouble  de  lazur  et  la  boutez  en  une  autre  paelle 
nette  plommee  et  le  laissiez  aussi  rasseoir  et  lazur  descendre 
au  fons.  Puis  remettez  la  tierce  fois  de  leaue  tiede,  et  re- 
muez la  dicte  mixtion  de  trementine  et  dazur,  et  purez  leaue 
en  une  autre  paelle  et  laissiez  rasseoir,  et  de  toutes  trois  getez 
leaue  et  sechez  et  gardez  lazur.  Le  premier  vault  son  poiz 
dor,  le  second  son  poiz  dargent,  et  le  tiers  est  bon  pour  faire 
assiete.     Et  pour  ce  chacune  sorte  soit  tenue  apart. 

350.  Quant  un  cheval  a  mauvais  yeux  et  troubles. — Prenez 
troiz  ou  quatre  feuilles  de  waide  et  le  blanc  dun  oeufs  et  du 
sel  le  gros  dune  feve  et  mettez  toutes  ces  choses  en  lescaille  de 
loef  et  netoiez  lastre  du  feu  et  le  metez  dessus,  et  le  laissiez 
tant  secber  que  on  en  puisse  fsure  pouldre  et  en  mettez  en  leul 
du  cheval. 

351.  Pour  garir  dejieores  quartainnes. — Prenez  dune  herbe 
que  Ion  appelle  tettes  de  souris,  le  gros  dune  noiz  galle,  et  le 
destrempez  de  vin  blanc,  et  en  faites  boire  le  malade  le  jour 
que  les  fievres  le  doivent  pranre,  et  tantot  garira. 


320  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE. 

• 
352«  To  make  cleret^  which  in  Lombardy  is  called  gteHerie. — 
Take  an  ounce  of  chauelle  [canelle  ?],  half  an  ounce  of  ginger, 
6  cloves,  8  grains  of  paradise  grains,  a  little  nutmeg,  all  these 
things  well  pulverized,  half  a  pint  of  virgin  honey,  and  a  little 
wine.  Distemper  all  these  things  together  and  strain  them 
through  a  bag,  the  bottom  of  which  is  pointed  into  the  vessel 
which  contained  the  wine ;  and  if  it  is  not  clear  the  first 
time  of  straining,  replace  it  in  the  bag  over  the  other,  which 
meanwhile  has  been  dripping,  and  on  straining  it  will  become 
clear. 

THANK  GOD. 

This  Book  is  composed  by  Master  Jehan  Le  Begue, 
a  Licentiate  in  the  Law,  Notary-General  of  the  Masters 
of  the  King's  Mint,  at  Paris,  Anno  Domini  1431,  when 
he  was  63  years  of  age. 


MANUSCRIPTS  OF  JEHAN  LE  BEGUE.  321 

352.  Pour  faire  cleret  qui  en  Lombardie  est  appeUe  ateUerie. 
— ^Prenez  une  once  de  chanelle  et  demie  de  gingembre  et  six 
clox  de  ^rofle  et  yiij  grains  de  grainnes  de  paradis,  etun  po  de 
noiz  muscade,  tout  broye  en  pouldre,  et  demie  pinte  de  larme 
de  miel  et  un  pot  de  vin,  et  les  trempez  tote  engMpble,  et  pniz 
les  coulez  par  le  sachet  agu  dessoubs  4D  le  pot  on  estoit  le  vin ; 
et  se  le  premier  qui  descend  nest  bien  cler,  remetez  le  au  dit 
sachet  sus  lautre  qui  tondis  coule  et  il  revenra  cler. 

DEO  GRATIAS. 

Gompositus  est  liber  iste  a  magistro  Johanne  le 
Begue,  Licentiato  in  Legibus,  Greffario  Geners^ium 
Magistrorum  Monetae  Regis  Parisiis,  anno  Domini 
1431,  aetatis  vero  suae  63. 


END  OF  VOL.  I. 


VOL.  L 


LoHoow: 
Motod  by  Wiluam  Gunrn  and  8aM« 
Stamlbrd  Straal.